/? 


Inaugural  Addresses 

of  the 

Presidents  of  the  United  States  from 
Taylor  to  Roosevelt 


patriotic 


Inaugural  Addresses 

Preside  '  ited  States 

fro  lor  to 

elt 

TJ3VI  «OQO3MT 

H^  ««       A       MOH^ 

JOHN   v 


THE  RE1LLY  *  l  >  CO. 

MCMVl 


THEODORE      ROOSEVEUT 


patriotic  <Rla00fc0 


Inaugural  Addresses 

of  the 

Presidents  of  the  United  States 

from  Taylor  to 

Roosevelt 

EDITED  BY 

JOHN  VANCE  CHENEY 


CHICAGO 
THE  REILLY  &  BRITTON  CO. 

MCMVl 


COPYRIGHT,  igo6 

BY 
THE  RE1LLY  &  BRITTON  CO. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BARBARA 

Contents 

ZACHARY  TAYLOR  PAGE 

Inaugural  Address  3 

FRANKLIN  PIERCE 

Inaugural  Address  -  -  9 

JAMES  BUCHANAN 

Inaugural  Address  -  -  25 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

First  Inaugural  Address    -  39 

Second  Inaugural  Address     -         -       55 

ANDREW  JOHNSON 

First  Inaugural  Address    -         -  59 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 

First  Inaugural  Address         -         -       6 1 

Second  Inaugural  Address  -  67 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES 

Inaugural  Address  73 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD 

Inaugural  Address  -  -  85 

CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR 

Inaugural  Address  99 

GROVER  CLEVELAND 

First  Inaugural  Address    -         -          103 


Content*! 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON 

Inaugural  Address  -     in 

GROVER  CLEVELAND 

Second  Inaugural  Address  131 

WILLIAM  McKmLEY 

First  Inaugural  Address  -     ^41 

Second  Inaugural  Address  159 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

Inaugural  Address  -     169 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES 

—1787    -  179 

AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION       -     203 


vffi 


preface 


LIKE  its  companion,  the  second  volume 
of  Inaugural  Addresses  was  printed  in 
its  first  limited  edition  as  an  example 
of  good  book -making,  solely  for  the  delecta- 
tion of  the  friends  of  The  Lakeside  Press.  It 
enjoyed  with  its  predecessor  a  more  general 
popularity  than  had  been  anticipated  by  its 
compilers.  This  second  edition  to  meet  the 
demand  was  printed  by  arrangement  between 
the  Reilly  &  Britton  Co.  and  the  Lakeside 
Press. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


Inaugural  Addresses 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


by  the  American   people  to 
rV  the  highest  office  known  to  our  laws,  I 
appear  here  to  take  the  oath  prescribed 
by  the  Constitution,  and,  in  compliance  with  a 
time-honored  custom,  to  address   those  who 
are  now  assembled. 

The  confidence  and  respect  shown  by  my 
countrymen  in  calling  me  to  be  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  a  Republic  holding  a  high  rank 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth  have  inspired 
me  with  feelings  of  the  most  profound  grati- 
tude; but  when  I  reflect  that  the  acceptance 
of  the  office  which  their  partiality  has  bestowed 
imposes  the  discharge  of  the  most  arduous 
duties  and  involves  the  weightiest  obligations, 
I  am  conscious  that  the  position  which  I  have 
been  called  to  fill,  though  sufficient  to  satisfy 
the  loftiest  ambition,  is  surrounded  by  fearful 
responsibilities.  Happily,  however,  in  the 
performance  of  my  new  duties  I  shall  not  be 
without  able  co-operation.  The  legislative 
and  judicial  branches  of  the  Government  pre- 
sent prominent  examples  of  distinguished  civil 
attainments  and  matured  experience,  and  it 
shall  be  my  endeavor  to  call  to  my  assistance  in 
the  Executive  Departments  individuals  whose 


inaugural 


talents,  integrity,  and  purity  of  character  will 
furnish  ample  guaranties  for  the  faithful  and 
honorable  performance  of  the  trusts  to  be 
committed  to  their  charge.  With  such  aids 
and  an  honest  purpose  to  do  whatever  is  right, 
I  hope  to  execute  diligently,  impartially,  and 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  country  the  mani- 
fold duties  devolved  upon  me. 

In  the  discharge  of  these  duties  my  guide 
will  be  the  Constitution,  which  I  this  day 
swear  to  "preserve,  protect,  and  defend." 
For  the  interpretation  of  that  instrument  I 
shall  look  to  the  decisions  of  the  judicial  tribu- 
nals established  by  its  authority  and  to  the 
practice  of  the  Government  under  the  earlier 
Presidents,  who  had  so  large  a  share  in  its 
formation.  To  the  example  of  those  illustri- 
ous patriots  I  shall  always  defer  with  rever- 
ence, and  especially  to  his  example  who  was 
by  so  many  titles  "the  Father  of  his  Country." 

To  command  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States;  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  make  treaties  and  to  appoint 
ambassadors  and  other  officers;  to  give  to 
Congress  information  of  the  state  of  the  Union 
and  recommend  such  measures  as  he  shall 
judge  to  be  necessary;  and  to  take  care  that 
the  laws  shall  be  faithfully  executed — these 
are  the  most  important  functions  intrusted  to 
the  President  by  the  Constitution,  and  it  may  be 
expected  that  I  shall  briefly  indicate  the  princi- 
ples which  will  control  me  in  their  execution. 


Captor 


Chosen  by  the  body  of  the  people  under  the 
assurance  that  my  Administration  would  be 
devoted  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country, 
and  not  to  the  support  of  any  particular  sec- 
tion or  merely  local  interest,  I  this  day  renew 
the  declarations  I  have  heretofore  made  and 
proclaim  my  fixed  determination  to  maintain 
to  the  extent  of  my  ability  the  Government  in 
its  original  purity  and  to  adopt  as  the  basis  of 
my  public  policy  those  great  republican  doc- 
trines which  constitute  the  strength  of  our 
national  existence. 

In  reference  to  the  Army  and  Navy,  lately 
employed  with  so  much  distinction  on  active 
service,  care  shall  be  taken  to  insure  the  high- 
est condition  of  efficiency,  and  in  furtherance 
of  that  object  the  military  and  naval  schools, 
sustained  by  the  liberality  of  Congress,  shall 
receive  the  special  attention  of  the  Executive. 

As  American  freemen  we  cannot  but  sym- 
pathize in  all  efforts  to  extend  the  blessings  of 
civil  and  political  liberty,  but  at  the  same  time 
we  are  warned  by  the  admonitions  of  history 
and  the  voice  of  our  own  beloved  Washington 
to  abstain  from  entangling  alliances  with  for- 
eign nations.  In  all  disputes  between  con- 
flicting governments  it  is  our  interest,  not  less 
than  our  duty,  to  remain  strictly  neutral,  while 
our  geographical  position,  the  genius  of  our 
institutions  and  our  people,  the  advancing 
spirit  of  civilization,  and,  above  all,  the  dic- 
tates of  religion  direct  us  to  the  cultivation  of 


peaceful  and  friendly  relations  with  all  other 
powers.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  interna- 
tional question  can  now  arise  which  a  govern- 
ment confident  in  its  own  strength  and  resolved 
to  protect  its  own  just  rights  may  not  settle 
by  wise  negotiation;  and  it  eminently  becomes 
a  government  like  our  own,  founded  on  the 
morality  and  intelligence  of  its  citizens  and 
upheld  by  their  affections,  to  exhaust  every 
resort  of  honorable  diplomacy  before  appeal- 
ing to  arms.  In  the  conduct  of  our  foreign 
relations  I  shall  conform  to  these  views,  as  I 
believe  them  essential  to  the  best  interests  and 
the  true  honor  of  the  country. 

The  appointing  power  vested  in  the  Presi- 
dent imposes  delicate  and  onerous  duties.  So 
far  as  it  is  possible  to  be  informed,  I  shall 
make  honesty,  capacity,  and  fidelity  indispens- 
able prerequisites  to  the  bestowal  of  office, 
and  the  absence  of  either  of  these  qualities 
shall  be  deemed  sufficient  cause  for  removal. 

It  shall  be  my  study  to  recommend  such 
constitutional  measures  to  Congress  as  may  be 
necessary  and  proper  to  secure  encouragement 
and  protection  to  the  great  interests  of  agri- 
culture, commerce,  and  manufactures,  to  im- 
prove our  rivers  and  harbors,  to  provide  for 
the  speedy  extinguishment  of  the  public  debt, 
to  enforce  a  strict  accountability  on  the  part 
of  all  officers  of  the  Government  and  the 
utmost  economy  in  all  public  expenditures; 
but  it  is  for  the  wisdom  of  Congress  itself,  in 


'acfjarp  Captor 


which  all  legislative  powers  are  vested  by  the 
Constitution,  to  regulate  these  and  other  mat- 
ters of  domestic  policy.  I  shall  look  with 
confidence  to  the  enlightened  patriotism  of 
that  body  to  adopt  such  measures  of  concilia- 
tion as  may  harmonize  conflicting  interests  and 
tend  to  perpetuate  that  Union  which  should  be 
the  paramount  object  of  our  hopes  and  affec- 
tions. In  any  action  calculated  to  promote  an 
object  so  near  the  heart  of  every  one  who  truly 
loves  his  country  I  will  zealously  unite  with 
the  co-ordinate  branches  of  the  Government. 

In  conclusion  I  congratulate  you,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  upon  the  high  state  of  prosperity  to 
which  the  goodness  of  Divine  Providence  has 
conducted  our  common  country.  Let  us  in- 
voke a  continuance  of  the  same  protecting  care 
which  has  led  us  from  small  beginnings  to  the 
eminence  we  this  day  occupy,  and  let  us  seek 
to  deserve  that  continuance  by  prudence  and 
moderation  in  our  councils,  by  well-directed 
attempts  to  assuage  the  bitterness  which  too 
often  marks  unavoidable  differences  of  opin- 
ion, by  the  promulgation  and  practice  of  just 
and  liberal  principles,  and  by  an  enlarged 
patriotism,  which  shall  acknowledge  no  limits 
but  those  of  our  own  widespread  Republic. 

March  5,  1849. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


MY  COUNTRYMEN:   It  is  a  relief  to 
feel  that  no   heart  but  my  own  can 
know  the  personal  regret  and  bitter 
sorrow  over  which  I  have   been  borne  to  a 
position  so  suitable   for  others   rather  than 
desirable  for  myself. 

The  circumstances  under  which  I  have  been 
called  for  a  limited  period  to  preside  over  the 
destinies  of  the  Republic  fill  me  with  a  pro- 
found sense  of  responsibility,  but  with  nothing 
like  shrinking  apprehension.  I  repair  to  the 
post  assigned  me  not  as  to  one  sought,  but  in 
obedience  to  the  unsolicited  expression  of  your 
will,  answerable  only  for  a  fearless,  faithful, 
and  diligent  exercise  of  my  best  powers.  I 
ought  to  be,  and  am,  truly  grateful  for  the 
rare  manifestation  of  the  nation's  confidence; 
but  this,  so  far  from  lightening  my  obligations, 
only  adds  to  their  weight.  You  have  sum- 
moned me  in  my  weakness;  you  must  sustain 
me  by  your  strength.  When  looking  for  the 
fulfillment  of  reasonable  requirements,  you 
will  not  be  unmindful  of  the  great  changes 
which  have  occurred,  even  within  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century,  and  the  consequent  aug- 
mentation and  complexity  of  duties  imposed 


inaugural 


in  the  administration  both  of  your  home  and 
foreign  affairs. 

Whether  the  elements  of  inherent  force  in 
the  Republic  have  kept  pace  with  its  unparal- 
leled progression  in  territory,  population,  and 
wealth  has  been  the  subject  of  earnest  thought 
and  discussion  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean. 
Less  than  sixty-four  years  ago  the  Father  of 
his  Country  made  "the"  then  "recent  acces- 
sion of  the  important  State  of  North  Carolina 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States"  one 
of  the  subjects  of  his  special  congratulation. 
At  that  moment,  however,  when  the  agitation 
consequent  upon  the  Revolutionary  struggle 
had  hardly  subsided,  when  we  were  just  emer- 
ging from  the  weakness  and  embarrassments  of 
the  Confederation,  there  was  an  evident  con- 
sciousness of  vigor  equal  to  the  great  mission 
so  wisely  and  bravely  fulfilled  by  our  fathers. 
It  was  not  a  presumptuous  assurance,  but  a 
calm  faith,  springing  from  a  clear  view  of  the 
sources  of  power  in  a  government  constituted 
like  ours.  It  is  no  paradox  to  say  that 
although  comparatively  weak  the  new-born 
nation  was  intrinsically  strong.  Inconsider- 
able in  population  and  apparent  resources,  it 
was  upheld  by  a  broad  and  intelligent  compre- 
hension of  rights  and  an  all-pervading  purpose 
to  maintain  them,  stronger  than  armaments. 
It  came  from  the  furnace  of  the  Revolution, 
tempered  to  the  necessities  of  the  times.  The 
thoughts  of  the  men  of  that  day  were  as  prac- 

10 


f  ranfelin  fierce 


tical  as  their  sentiments  were  patriotic.  They 
wasted  no  portion  of  their  energies  upon  idle 
and  delusive  speculations,  but  with  a  firm  and 
fearless  step  advanced  beyond  the  govern- 
mental landmarks  which  had  hitherto  circum- 
scribed the  limits  of  human  freedom  and 
planted  their  standard,  where  it  has  stood 
against  dangers  which  have  threatened  from 
abroad,  and  internal  agitation,  which  has  at 
times  fearfully  menaced  at  home.  They 
proved  themselves  equal  to  the  solution  of  the 
great  problem,  to  understand  which  their 
minds  had  been  illuminated  by  the  dawning 
lights  of  the  Revolution.  The  object  sought 
was  not  a  thing  dreamed  of;  it  was  a  thing 
realized.  They  had  exhibited  not  only  the 
power  to  achieve,  but,  what  all  history  affirms 
to  be  so  much  more  unusual,  the  capacity  to 
maintain.  The  oppressed  throughout  the 
world  from  that  day  to  the  present  have  turned 
their  eyes  hitherward,  not  to  find  those  lights 
extinguished  or  to  fear  lest  they  should  wane, 
but  to  be  constantly  cheered  by  their  steady 
and  increasing  radiance. 

In  this  our  country  has,  in  my  judgment, 
thus  far  fulfilled  its  highest  duty  to  suffering 
humanity.  It  has  spoken  and  will  continue  to 
speak  not  only  by  its  words,  but  by  its  acts, 
the  language  of  sympathy,  encouragement, 
and  hope  to  those  who  earnestly  listen  to  tones 
which  pronounce  for  the  largest  rational  lib- 
erty. But  after  all,  the  most  animating  en- 
ii 


inaugural 


couragement  and  potent  appeal  for  freedom 
will  be  its  own  history — its  trials  and  its 
triumphs.  Pre-eminently,  the  power  of  our 
advocacy  reposes  in  our  example ;  but  no  ex- 
ample, be  it  remembered,  can  be  powerful  for 
lasting  good,  whatever  apparent  advantages 
may  be  gained,  which  is  not  based  upon  eternal 
principles  of  right  and  justice.  Our  fathers 
decided  for  themselves,  both  upon  the  hour  to 
declare  and  the  hour  to  strike.  They  were 
their  own  judges  of  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  became  them  to  pledge  to  each  other 
"their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred 
honor"  for  the  acquisition  of  the  priceless 
inheritance  transmitted  to  us.  The  energy 
with  which  that  great  conflict  was  opened, 
and,  under  the  guidance  of  a  manifest  and 
beneficent  Providence,  the  uncomplaining  en- 
durance with  which  it  was  prosecuted  to  its 
consummation  were  only  surpassed  by  the  wis- 
dom and  patriotic  spirit  of  concession  which 
characterized  all  the  counsels  of  the  early 
fathers. 

One  of  the  most  impressive  evidences  of 
that  wisdom  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the 
actual  working  of  our  system  has  dispelled  a 
degree  of  solicitude  which  at  the  outset  dis- 
turbed bold  hearts  and  far-reaching  intellects. 
The  apprehension  of  dangers  from  extend- 
ed territory,  multiplied  States,  accumulated 
wealth,  and  augmented  population  has  proved 
to  be  unfounded.  The  stars  upon  your  ban- 

12 


ifranWin  fierce 


ner  have  become  nearly  threefold  their  original 
number;  your  densely  populated  possessions 
skirt  the  shores  of  the  two  great  oceans;  and 
yet  this  vast  increase  of  people  and  territory 
has  not  only  shown  itself  compatible  with  the 
harmonious  action  of  the  States  and  Federal 
Government  in  their  respective  constitutional 
spheres,  but  has  afforded  an  additional  guar- 
anty of  the  strength  and  integrity  of  both. 

With  an  experience  thus  suggestive  and 
cheering,  the  policy  of  my  Administration  will 
not  be  controlled  by  any  timid  forebodings  of 
evil  from  expansion.  Indeed,  it  is  not  to  be 
disguised  that  our  attitude  as  a  nation  and  our 
position  on  the  globe  render  the  acquisition  of 
certain  possessions  not  within  our  jurisdiction 
eminently  important  for  our  protection,  if  not 
in  the  future  essential  for  the  preservation  of 
the  rights  of  commerce  and  the  peace  of  the 
world.  Should  they  be  obtained,  it  will  be 
through  no  grasping  spirit,  but  with  a  view  to 
obvious  national  interest  and  security,  and  in 
a  manner  entirely  consistent  with  the  strictest 
observance  of  national  faith.  We  have  noth- 
ing in  our  history  or  position  to  invite  aggres- 
sion; we  have  everything  to  beckon  us  to  the 
cultivation  of  relations  of  peace  and  amity 
with  all  nations.  Purposes,  therefore,  at  once 
just  and  pacific  will  be  significantly  marked  in 
the  conduct  of  our  foreign  affairs.  I  intend 
that  my  Administration  shall  leave  no  blot  upon 
our  fair  record,  and  trust  I  may  safely  give  the 

13 


inaugural 


assurance  that  no  act  within  the  legitimate 
scope  of  my  constitutional  control  will  be  toler- 
ated on  the  part  of  any  portion  of  our  citizens 
which  cannot  challenge  a  ready  justification 
before  the  tribunal  of  the  civilized  world.  An 
Administration  would  be  unworthy  of  confi- 
dence at  home  or  respect  abroad  should  it 
cease  to  be  influenced  by  the  conviction  that 
no  apparent  advantage  can  be  purchased  at  a 
price  so  dear  as  that  of  national  wrong  or  dis- 
honor. It  is  not  your  privilege  as  a  nation  to 
speak  of  a  distant  past.  The  striking  incidents 
of  your  history,  replete  with  instruction  and 
furnishing  abundant  grounds  for  hopeful  con- 
fidence, are  comprised  in  a  period  compara- 
tively brief.  But  if  your  past  is  limited,  your 
future  is  boundless.  Its  obligations  throng 
the  unexplored  pathway  of  advancement,  and 
will  be  limitless  as  duration.  Hence  a  sound 
and  comprehensive  policy  should  embrace  not 
less  the  distant  future  than  the  urgent  present. 
The  great  objects  of  our  pursuit  as  a  people 
are  best  to  be  attained  by  peace,  and  are  en- 
tirely consistent  with  the  tranquillity  and 
interests  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  With  the 
neighboring  nations  upon  our  continent  we 
should  cultivate  kindly  and  fraternal  relations. 
We  can  desire  nothing  in  regard  to  them  so 
much  as  to  see  them  consolidate  their  strength 
and  pursue  the  paths  of  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness. If  in  the  course  of  their  growth  we 
should  open  new  channels  of  trade  and  create 


franklin  fierce 


additional  facilities  for  friendly  intercourse, 
the  benefits  realized  will  be  equal  and  mutual. 
Of  the  complicated  European  systems  of 
national  polity  we  have  heretofore  been  inde- 
pendent. From  their  wars,  their  tumults,  and 
anxieties  we  have  been,  happily,  almost  entirely 
exempt.  Whilst  these  are  confined  to  the 
nations  which  gave  them  existence,  and  within 
their  legitimate  jurisdiction,  they  cannot  affect 
us  except  as  they  appeal  to  our  sympathies  in 
the  cause  of  human  freedom  and  universal 
advancement.  But  the  vast  interests  of  com- 
merce are  common  to  all  mankind,  and  the 
advantages  of  trade  and  international  inter- 
course must  always  present  a  noble  field  for 
the  moral  influence  of  a  great  people. 

With  these  views  firmly  and  honestly  carried 
out,  we  have  a  right  to  expect,  and  shall  under 
all  circumstances  require,  prompt  reciprocity. 
The  rights  which  belong  to  us  as  a  nation  are 
not  alone  to  be  regarded,  but  those  which  per- 
tain to  every  citizen  in  his  individual  capacity, 
at  home  and  abroad,  must  be  sacredly  main- 
tained. So  long  as  he  can  discern  every  star 
in  its  place  upon  that  ensign,  without  wealth 
to  purchase  for  him  preferment  or  title  to 
secure  for  him  place,  it  will  be  his  privilege, 
and  must  be  his  acknowledged  right,  to  stand 
unabashed  even  in  the  presence  of  princes  with 
a  proud  consciousness  that  he  is  himself  one 
of  a  nation  of  sovereigns  and  that  he  cannot 
in  legitimate  pursuit  wander  so  far  from  home 


inaugural 


that  the  agent  whom  he  shall  leave  behind  in 
the  place  which  I  now  occupy  will  not  see  that 
no  rude  hand  of  power  or  tyrannical  passion 
is  laid  upon  him  with  impunity.  He  must 
realize  that  upon  every  sea  and  on  every  soil 
where  our  enterprise  may  rightfully  seek  the 
protection  of  our  flag  American  citizenship  is 
an  inviolable  panoply  for  the  security  of 
American  rights.  And  in  this  connection  it 
can  hardly  be  necessary  to  reaffirm  a  principle 
which  should  now  be  regarded  as  fundamental. 
The  rights,  security,  and  repose  of  this  Con- 
federacy reject  the  idea  of  interference  or  colo- 
nization on  this  side  of  the  ocean  by  any  foreign 
power  beyond  present  jurisdiction  as  utterly 
inadmissible. 

The  opportunities  of  observation  furnished 
by  my  brief  experience  as  a  soldier  confirmed 
in  my  own  mind  the  opinion,  entertained  and 
acted  upon  by  others  from  the  formation  of 
the  Government,  that  the  maintenance  of  large 
standing  armies  in  our  country  would  be  not 
only  dangerous,  but  unnecessary.  They  also 
illustrated  the  importance — I  might  well  say 
the  absolute  necessity — of  the  military  science 
and  practical  skill  furnished  in  such  an  eminent 
degree  by  the  institution  which  has  made  your 
Army  what  it  is,  under  the  discipline  and  in- 
struction of  officers  not  more  distinguished  for 
their  solid  attainments,  gallantry,  and  devotion 
to  the  public  service  than  for  unobtrusive  bear- 
ing and  high  moral  tone.  The  Army  as  organ- 

16 


ifcanhlin  fierce 


ized  must  be  the  nucleus  around  which  in 
every  time  of  need  the  strength  of  your  mili- 
tary power,  the  sure  bulwark  of  your  defense 
— a  national  militia — may  be  readily  formed 
into  a  well-disciplined  and  efficient  organiza- 
tion. And  the  skill  and  self-devotion  of  the 
Navy  assure  you  that  you  may  take  the  per- 
formance of  the  past  as  a  pledge  for  the  future, 
and  may  confidently  expect  that  the  flag  which 
has  waved  its  untarnished  folds  over  every  sea 
will  still  float  in  undiminished  honor.  But 
these,  like  many  other  subjects,  will  be  appro- 
priately brought  at  a  future  time  to  the 
attention  of  the  co-ordinate  branches  of  the 
Government,  to  which  I  shall  always  look  with 
profound  respect  and  with  trustful  confidence 
that  they  will  accord  to  me  the  aid  and  sup- 
port which  I  shall  so  much  need  and  which 
their  experience  and  wisdom  will  readily 
suggest. 

In  the  administration  of  domestic  affairs  you 
expect  a  devoted  integrity  in  the  public  service 
and  an  observance  of  rigid  economy  in  all 
departments,  so  marked  as  never  justly  to  be 
questioned.  If  this  reasonable  expectation  be 
not  realized,  I  frankly  confess  that  one  of  your 
leading  hopes  is  doomed  to  disappointment, 
and  that  my  efforts  in  a  very  important  par- 
ticular must  result  in  a  humiliating  failure. 
Offices  can  be  properly  regarded  only  in  the 
light  of  aids  for  the  accomplishment  of  these 
objects,  and  as  occupancy  can  confer  no  pre- 
17 


inaugural 


rogative  nor  importunate  desire  for  preferment 
any  claim,  the  public  interest  imperatively 
demands  that  they  be  considered  with  sole 
reference  to  the  duties  to  be  performed. 
Good  citizens  may  well  claim  the  protection  of 
good  laws  and  the  benign  influence  of  good 
government,  but  a  claim  for  office  is  what  the 
people  of  a  republic  should  never  recognize. 
No  reasonable  man  of  any  party  will  expect 
the  Administration  to  be  so  regardless  of  its 
responsibility  and  of  the  obvious  elements  of 
success  as  to  retain  persons  known  to  be  under 
the  influence  of  political  hostility  and  partisan 
prejudice  in  positions  which  will  require  not 
only  severe  labor,  but  cordial  co-operation. 
Having  no  implied  engagements  to  ratify,  no 
rewards  to  bestow,  no  resentments  to  remem- 
ber, and  no  personal  wishes  to  consult  in  selec- 
tions for  official  station,  I  shall  fulfill  this 
difficult  and  delicate  trust,  admitting  no 
motive  as  worthy  either  of  my  character  or 
position  which  does  not  contemplate  an  effi- 
cient discharge  of  duty  and  the  best  interests 
of  my  country.  I  acknowledge  my  obligations 
to  the  masses  of  my  countrymen,  and  to  them 
alone.  Higher  objects  than  personal  aggran- 
dizement gave  direction  and  energy  to  their 
exertions  in  the  late  canvass,  and  they  shall 
not  be  disappointed.  They  require  at  my 
hands  diligence,  integrity,  and  capacity  where- 
ever  there  are  duties  to  be  performed.  With- 
out these  qualities  in  their  public  servants, 

18 


franklin  fierce 


more  stringent  laws  for  the  prevention  or 
punishment  of  fraud,  negligence,  and  pecula- 
tion will  be  vain.  With  them  they  will  be 
unnecessary. 

But  these  are  not  the  only  points  to  which 
you  look  for  vigilant  watchfulness.  The  dan- 
gers of  a  concentration  of  all  power  in  the 
general  government  of  a  confederacy  so  vast 
as  ours  are  too  obvious  to  be  disregarded. 
You  have  a  right,  therefore,  to  expect  your 
agents  in  every  department  to  regard  strictly 
the  limits  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.  The  great  scheme 
of  our  constitutional  liberty  rests  upon  a  proper 
distribution  of  power  between  the  State  and 
Federal  authorities,  and  experience  has  shown 
that  the  harmony  and  happiness  of  our  people 
must  depend  upon  a  just  discrimination  be- 
tween the  separate  rights  and  responsibilities 
of  the  States  and  your  common  rights  and 
obligations  under  the  General  Government; 
and  here,  in  my  opinion,  are  the  considera- 
tions which  should  form  the  true  basis  of 
future  concord  in  regard  to  the  questions 
which  have  most  seriously  disturbed  public  tran- 
quillity. If  the  Federal  Government  will  confine 
itself  to  the  exercise  of  powers  clearly  granted 
by  the  Constitution,  it  can  hardly  happen  that 
its  action  upon  any  question  should  endanger 
the  institutions  of  the  States  or  interfere  with 
their  right  to  manage  matters  strictly  domestic 
according  to  the  will  of  their  own  people. 

19 


inaugural 


In  expressing  briefly  my  views  upon  an  im- 
portant subject  which  has  recently  agitated  the 
nation  to  almost  a  fearful  degree,  I  am  moved 
by  no  other  impulse  than  a  most  earnest  desire 
for  the  perpetuation  of  that  Union  which  has 
made  us  what  we  are,  showering  upon  us 
blessings  and  conferring  a  power  and  influence 
which  our  fathers  could  hardly  have  antici- 
pated, even  with  their  most  sanguine  hopes 
directed  to  a  far-off  future.  The  sentiments 
I  now  announce  were  not  unknown  before  the 
expression  of  the  voice  which  called  me  here. 
My  own  position  upon  this  subject  was  clear 
and  unequivocal,  upon  the  record  of  my  words 
and  my  acts,  and  it  is  only  recurred  to  at  this 
time  because  silence  migh*  perhaps  be  miscon- 
strued. With  the  Union  my  best  and  dearest 
earthly  hopes  are  entwined.  Without  it  what 
are  we  individually  or  collectively?  What 
becomes  of  the  noblest  field  ever  opened  for 
the  advancement  of  our  race  in  religion,  in 
government,  in  the  arts,  and  in  all  that  digni- 
fies and  adorns  mankind?  From  that  radiant 
constellation  which  both  illumines  our  own 
way  and  points  out  to  struggling  nations  their 
course,  let  but  a  single  star  be  lost,  and,  if 
there  be  not  utter  darkness,  the  luster  of  the 
whole  is  dimmed.  Do  my  countrymen  need 
any  assurance  that  such  a  catastrophe  is  not 
to  overtake  them  while  I  possess  the  power  to 
stay  it?  It  is  with  me  an  earnest  and  vital 
belief  that  as  the  Union  has  been  the  source; 

20 


franklin  fierce 


under  Providence,  of  our  prosperity  to  this 
time,  so  it  is  the  surest  pledge  of  a  continu- 
ance of  the  blessings  we  have  enjoyed,  and 
which  we  are  sacredly  bound  to  transmit  un- 
diminished  to  our  children.  The  field  of  calm 
and  free  discussion  in  our  country  is  open,  and 
will  always  be  so,  but  never  has  been  and 
never  can  be  traversed  for  good  in  a  spirit  of 
sectionalism  and  uncharitableness.  The  found- 
ers of  the  Republic  dealt  with  things  as  they 
were  presented  to  them,  in  a  spirit  of  self- 
sacrificing  patriotism,  and,  as  time  has  proved, 
with  a  comprehensive  wisdom  which  it  will 
always  be  safe  for  us  to  consult.  Every 
measure  tending  to  strengthen  the  fraternal 
feelings  of  all.the  members  of  our  Union  has 
had  my  heartfelt  approbation.  To  every 
theory  of  society  or  government,  whether  the 
offspring  of  feverish  ambition  or  of  morbid  en- 
thusiasm, calculated  to  dissolve  the  bonds  of 
law  and  affection  which  unite  us,  I  shall  inter- 
pose a  ready  and  stern  resistance.  I  believe 
that  involuntary  servitude,  as  it  exists  in  differ- 
ent States  of  this  Confederacy,  is  recognized 
by  the  Constitution.  I  believe  that  it  stands 
like  any  other  admitted  right,  and  that  the 
States  where  it  exists  are  entitled  to  efficient 
remedies  to  enforce  the  constitutional  provi- 
sions. I  hold  that  the  laws  of  1850,  com- 
monly called  the  "compromise  measures,"  are 
strictly  constitutional  and  to  be  unhesitatingly 
carried  into  effect.  I  believe  that  the  consti- 

21 


inaugural 


tuted  authorities  of  this  Republic  are  bound 
to  regard  the  rights  of  the  South  in  this  respect 
as  they  would  view  any  other  legal  and  consti- 
tutional right,  and  that  the  laws  to  enforce 
them  should  be  respected  and  obeyed,  not  with 
a  reluctance  encouraged  by  abstract  opinions 
as  to  their  propriety  in  a  different  state  of 
society,  but  cheerfully  and  according  to  the 
decisions  of  the  tribunal  to  which  their  expo- 
sition belongs.  Such  have  been,  and  are,  my 
convictions,  and  upon  them  I  shall  act.  I 
fervently  hope  that  the  question  is  at  rest,  and 
that  no  sectional  or  ambitious  or  fanatical  ex- 
citement may  again  threaten  the  durability  of 
our  institutions  or  obscure  the  light  of  our 
prosperity. 

But  let  not  the  foundation  of  our  hope  rest 
upon  man's  wisdom.  It  will  not  be  sufficient 
that  sectional  prejudices  find  no  place  in  the 
public  deliberations.  It  will  not  be  sufficient 
that  the  rash  counsels  of  human  passion  are 
rejected.  It  must  be  felt  that  there  is  no 
national  security  but  in  the  nation's  humble, 
acknowledged  dependence  upon  God  and  His 
overruling  providence. 

We  have  been  carried  in  safety  through  a 
perilous  crisis.  Wise  counsels,  like  those 
which  gave  us  the  Constitution,  prevailed  to 
uphold  it.  Let  the  period  be  remembered  as 
an  admonition,  and  not  as  an  encouragement, 
in  any  section  of  the  Union,  to  make  experi- 
ments where  experiments  are  fraught  with  such 

22 


f  ranfclin  fierce 


fearful  hazard.  Let  it  be  impressed  upon  all 
hearts  that,  beautiful  as  our  fabric  is,  no 
earthly  power  or  wisdom  could  ever  reunite 
its  broken  fragments.  Standing,  as  I  do, 
almost  within  view  of  the  green  slopes  of 
Monticello,  and,  as  it  were,  within  reach  of 
the  tomb  of  Washington,  with  all  the  cherished 
memories  of  the  past  gathering  around  me  like 
so  many  eloquent  voices  of  exhortation  from 
heaven,  I  can  express  no  better  hope  for  my 
country  than  that  the  kind  Providence  which 
smiled  upon  our  fathers  may  enable  their  chil- 
dren to  preserve  the  blessings  they  have 
inherited. 

March  4,  1853. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:    I  appear  before 
you  this  day  to  take  the  solemn  oath 
.  "that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office 
of  President  of   the   United  States  and   will 
to  the  best  of    my  ability  preserve,  protect, 
and   defend  the  Constitution   of   the    United 
States." 

In  entering  upon  this  great  office,  I  must 
humbly  invoke  the  God  of  our  fathers  for  wis- 
dom and  firmness  to  execute  its  high  and  re- 
sponsible duties  in  such  a  manner  as  to  restore 
harmony  and  ancient  friendship  among  the 
people  of  the  several  States,  and  to  preserve 
our  free  institutions  throughout  many  genera- 
tions. Convinced  that  I  owe  my  election  to 
the  inherent  love  for  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union  which  still  animates  the  hearts  of  the 
American  people,  let  me  earnestly  ask  their 
powerful  support  in  sustaining  all  just  meas- 
ures calculated  to  perpetuate  these,  the  richest 
political  blessings  which  Heaven  has  ever  be- 
stowed upon  any  nation.  Having  determined 
not  to  become  a  candidate  for  re-election,  I 
shall  have  no  motive  to  influence  my  conduct 
in  administering  the  Government  except  the 
desire  ably  and  faithfully  to  serve  my  country 

25 


and  to  live  in  the  grateful  memory  of  my 
countrymen. 

We  have  recently  passed  through  a  Presi- 
dential contest  in  which  the  passions  of  our 
fellow-citizens  were  excited  to  the  highest 
degree  by  questions  of  deep  and  vital  impor- 
tance; but  when  the  people  proclaimed  their 
will  the  tempest  at  once  subsided  and  all  was 
calm. 

The  voice  of  the  majority,  speaking  in  the 
manner  prescribed  by  the  Constitution,  was 
heard,  and  instant  submission  followed.  Our 
own  country  could  alone  have  exhibited  so 
grand  and  striking  a  spectacle  of  the  capacity 
of  man  for  self-government. 

What  a  happy  conception,  then,  was  it  for 
Congress  to  apply  this  simple  rule,  that  the 
will  of  the  majority  shall  govern,  to  the  settle- 
ment of  the  question  of  domestic  slavery  in  the 
Territories!  Congress  is  neither  "to  legislate 
slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State  nor  to  ex- 
clude it  therefrom,  but  to  leave  the  people 
thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate 
their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way, 
subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States." 

As  a  natural  consequence,  Congress  has  also 
prescribed  that  when  the  Territory  of  Kansas 
shall  be  admitted  as  a  State,  it  "shall  be  re- 
ceived into  the  Union  with  or  without  slavery, 
as  their  constitution  may  prescribe  at  the  time 
of  their  admission." 

26 


A  difference  of  opinion  has  arisen  in  regard 
to  the  point  of  time  when  the  people  of  a  Ter- 
ritory shall  decide  this  question  for  themselves. 

This  is,  happily,  a  matter  of  but  little  prac- 
tical importance.  Besides,  it  is  a  judicial  ques- 
tion, which  legitimately  belongs  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  before  whom  it  is 
now  pending,  and  will,  it  is  understood,  be 
speedily  and  finally  settled.  To  their  decision, 
in  common  with  all  good  citizens,  I  shall  cheer- 
fully submit,  whatever  this  may  be,  though  it 
has  ever  been  my  individual  opinion  that  under 
the  Nebraska-Kansas  act  the  appropriate  period 
will  be  when  the  number  of  actual  residents  in 
the  Territory  shall  justify  the  formation  of  a 
constitution  with  a  view  to  its  admission  as  a 
State  into  the  Union.  But  be  this  as  it  may, 
it  is  the  imperative  and  indispensable  duty  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  secure 
to  every  resident  inhabitant  the  free  and  inde- 
pendent expression  of  his  opinion  by  his  vote. 
This  sacred  right  of  each  individual  must  be 
preserved.  That  being  accomplished,  nothing 
can  be  fairer  than  to  leave  the  people  of  a  Ter- 
ritory free  from  all  foreign  interference  to 
decide  their  own  destiny  for  themselves,  sub- 
ject only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

The  whole  Territorial  question  being  thus 
settled  upon  the  principle  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty— a  principle  as  ancient  as  free  govern- 
ment itself — everything  of  a  practical  nature 
27 


inaugural 


has  been  decided.  No  other  question  remains 
for  adjustment,  because  all  agree  that  under 
the  Constitution  slavery  in  the  States  is  beyond 
the  reach  of  any  human  power  except  that  of 
the  respective  States  themselves  wherein  it 
exists.  May  we  not,  then,  hope  that  the  long 
agitation  on  the  subject  is  approaching  its  end, 
and  that  the  geographical  parties  to  which  it 
has  given  birth,  so  much  dreaded  by  the  Father 
of  his  Country,  will  speedily  become  extinct? 
Most  happy  will  it  be  for  the  country  when  the 
public  mind  shall  be  diverted  from  this  ques- 
tion to  others  of  more  pressing  and  practical 
importance.  Throughout  the  whole  progress 
of  this  agitation,  which  has  scarcely  known 
any  intermission  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
whilst  it  has  been  productive  of  no  positive 
good  to  any  human  being  it  has  been  the  pro- 
lific source  of  great  evils  to  the  master,  to  the 
slave,  and  to  the  whole  country.  It  has  alien- 
ated and  estranged  the  people  of  the  sister 
States  from  each  other,  and  has  even  seriously 
endangered  the  very  existence  of  the  Union. 
Nor  has  the  danger  yet  entirely  ceased.  Under 
our  system  there  is  a  remedy  for  all  mere 
political  evils  in  the  sound  sense  and  sober 
judgment  of  the  people.  Time  is  a  great  cor- 
rective. Political  subjects  which  but  a  few 
years  ago  excited  and  exasperated  the  public 
mind  have  passed  away  and  are  now  nearly 
forgotten.  But  this  question  of  domestic  slav- 
ery is  of  far  graver  importance  than  any  mere 

28 


political  question,  because  should  the  agitation 
continue  it  may  eventually  endanger  the  per- 
sonal safety  of  a  large  portion  of  our  country- 
men where  the  institution  exists.  In  that  event 
no  form  of  government,  however  admirable 
in  itself  and  however  productive  of  material 
benefits,  can  compensate  for  the  loss  of  peace 
and  domestic  security  around  the  family  altar. 
Let  every  Union-loving  man,  therefore,  exert 
his  best  influence  to  suppress  this  agitation, 
which  since  the  recent  legislation  of  Congress 
is  without  any  legitimate  object. 

It  is  an  evil  omen  of  the  times  that  men 
have  undertaken  to  calculate  the  mere  material 
value  of  the  Union.  Reasoned  estimates  have 
been  presented  of  the  pecuniary  profits  and 
local  advantages  which  would  result  to  differ- 
ent States  and  sections  from  its  dissolution,  and 
of  the  comparative  injuries  which  such  an 
event  would  inflict  on  other  States  and  sec- 
tions. Even  descending  to  this  low  and  nar- 
row view  of  the  mighty  question,  all  such 
calculations  are  at  fault.  The  bare  reference 
to  a  single  consideration  will  be  conclusive  on 
this  point.  We  at  present  enjoy  a  free  trade 
throughout  our  extensive  and  expanding  coun- 
try such  as  the  world  has  never  witnessed. 
This  trade  is  conducted  on  railroads  and  canals, 
on  noble  rivers  and  arms  of  the  sea,  which 
bind  together  the  North  and  the  South,  the 
East  and  the  West,  of  our  Confederacy. 
Annihilate  this  trade,  arrest  its  free  progress 


inaugural 


by  the  geographical  lines  of  jealous  and  hos- 
tile States,  and  you  destroy  the  prosperity  and 
onward  march  of  the  whole  and  every  part 
and  involve  all  in  one  common  ruin.  But  such 
considerations,  important  as  they  are  in  them- 
selves, sink  into  insignificance  when  we  reflect 
on  the  terrific  evils  which  would  result  from 
disunion  to  every  portion  of  the  Confederacy 
— to  the  North  not  more  than  to  the  South,  to 
the  East  not  more  than  to  the  West.  These 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  portray,  because  I  feel 
an  humble  confidence  that  the  kind  Providence 
which  inspired  our  fathers  with  wisdom  to 
frame  the  most  perfect  form  of  government 
and  union  ever  devised  by  man  will  not  suffer 
it  to  perish  until  it  shall  have  been  peacefully 
instrumental  by  its  example  in  the  extension 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty  throughout  the 
world. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union  is  the  duty  of 
preserving  the  Government  free  from  the  taint 
or  even  the  suspicion  of  corruption.  Public 
virtue  is  the  vital  spirit  of  republics,  and  his- 
tory proves  that  when  this  has  decayed  and  the 
love  of  money  has  usurped  its  place,  although 
the  forms  of  free  government  may  remain  for 
a  season,  the  substance  has  departed  forever. 

Our  present  financial  condition  is  without  a 
parallel  in  history.  No  nation  has  ever  before 
been  embarrassed  from  too  large  a  surplus  in 
its  treasury.  This  almost  necessarily  gives 

3° 


birth  to  extravagant  legislation.  It  produces 
wild  schemes  of  expenditure  and  begets  a  race 
of  speculators  and  jobbers,  whose  ingenuity  is 
exerted  in  contriving  and  promoting  expedi- 
ents to  obtain  public  money.  The  purity  of 
official  agents,  whether  rightfully  or  wrong- 
fully, is  suspected,  and  the  character  of  the 
government  suffers  in  the  estimation  of  the 
people.  This  is  in  itself  a  very  great  evil. 

The  natural  mode  of  relief  from  this  embar- 
rassment is  to  appropriate  the  surplus  in  the 
Treasury  to  great  national  objects  for  which  a 
clear  warrant  can  be  found  in  the  Constitution. 
Among  these  I  might  mention  the  extinguish- 
ment of  the  public  debt,  a  reasonable  increase 
of  the  navy,  which  is  at  present  inadequate  to 
the  protection  of  our  vast  tonnage  afloat,  now 
greater  than  that  of  any  other  nation,  as  well 
as  to  the  defense  of  our  extended  seacoast. 

It  is  beyond  all  question  the  true  principle 
that  no  more  revenue  ought  to  be  collected 
from  the  people  than  the  amount  necessary  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  a  wise,  economical,  and 
efficient  administration  of  the  Government. 
To  reach  this  point  it  was  necessary  to  resort 
to  a  modification  of  the  tariff,  and  this  has,  I 
trust,  been  accomplished  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  do  as  little  injury  as  may  have  been  prac- 
ticable to  our  domestic  manufactures,  espe- 
cially those  necessary  for  the  defense  of  the 
country.  Any  discrimination  against  a  par- 
ticular branch  for  the  purpose  of  benefitting 


inaugural 


favored  corporations,  individuals,  or  interests 
would  have  been  unjust  to  the  rest  of  the 
community  and  inconsistent  with  that  spirit 
of  fairness  and  equality  which  ought  to  govern 
in  the  adjustment  of  a  revenue  tariff. 

But  the  squandering  of  the  public  money, 
sinks  into  comparative  insignificance  as  a 
temptation  to  corruption  when  compared  with 
the  squandering  of  the  public  lands. 

No  nation  in  the  tide  of  time  has  ever  been 
blessed  with  so  rich  and  noble  an  inheritance 
as  we  enjoy  in  the  public  lands.  In  adminis- 
tering this  important  trust,  whilst  it  may  be 
wise  to  grant  portions  of  them  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  remainder,  yet  we  should  never 
forget  that  it  is  our  cardinal  policy  to  reserve 
these  lands,  as  much  as  may  be,  for  actual 
settlers,  and  this  at  moderate  prices.  We 
shall  thus  not  only  best  promote  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  new  States  and  Territories,  by  fur- 
nishing them  a  hardy  and  independent  race  of 
honest  and  industrious  citizens,  but  shall  se- 
cure homes  for  our  children  and  our  children's 
children,  as  well  as  for  those  exiles  from  for- 
eign shores  who  may  seek  in  this  country  to 
improve  their  condition  and  to  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Such  emi- 
grants have  done  much  to  promote  the  growth 
and  prosperity  of  the  country.  They  have 
proved  faithful  both  in  peace  and  in  war. 
After  becoming  citizens  they  ^re  entitled, 
under  the  Constitution  and  laws,  to  be  placed 

32 


on  a  perfect  equality  with  native-born  citizens, 
and  in  this  character  they  should  ever  be 
kindly  recognized. 

The  Federal  Constitution  is  a  grant  from 
the  States  to  Congress  of  certain  specific 
powers,  and  the  question  whether  this  grant 
should  be  liberally  or  strictly  construed  has 
more  or  less  divided  political  parties  from  the 
beginning.  Without  entering  into  the  argu- 
ment, I  desire  to  state  at  the  commencement 
of  my  Administration  that  long  experience  and 
observation  have  convinced  me  that  a  strict 
construction  of  the  powers  of  the  Government 
is  the  only  true,  as  well  as  the  only  safe, 
theory  of  the  Constitution.  Whenever  in  our 
past  history  doubtful  powers  have  been  exer- 
cised by  Congress,  these  have  never  failed  to 
produce  injurious  and  unhappy  consequences. 
Many  such  instances  might  be  adduced  if  this 
were  the  proper  occasion.  Neither  is  it  neces- 
sary for  the  public  service  to  strain  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Constitution,  because  all  the  great 
and  useful  powers  required  for  a  successful 
administration  of  the  Government,  both  in 
peace  and  in  war,  have  been  granted,  either 
in  express  terms  or  by  the  plainest  implication. 

Whilst  deeply  convinced  of  these  truths,  I 
yet  consider  it  clear  that  under  the  war-mak- 
ing power  Congress  may  appropriate  money 
toward  the  construction  of  a  military  road 
when  this  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  de- 
fense of  any  State  or  Territory  of  the  Union 

33 


inaugural 


against  foreign  invasion.  Under  the  Constitu- 
tion Congress  has  power  "to  declare  war," 
"to  raise  and  support  armies,"  "to  provide 
and  maintain  a  navy,"  and  to  call  forth  the 
militia  to  "repel  invasions."  Thus  endowed, 
in  an  ample  manner,  with  the  war-making 
power,  the  corresponding  duty  is  required 
that  "the  United  States  shall  protect  each  of 
them  [the  States]  against  invasion."  Now, 
how  is  it  possible  to  afford  this  protection  to 
California  and  our  Pacific  possessions  except 
by  means  of  a  military  road  through  the  Ter- 
ritories of  the  United  States,  over  which  men 
and  munitions  of  war  may  be  speedily  trans- 
ported from  the  Atlantic  States  to  meet  and 
to  repel  the  invader?  In  the  event  of  a  war 
with  a  naval  power  much  stronger  than  our 
own  we  should  then  have  no  other  available 
access  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  because  such  a 
power  would  instantly  close  the  route  across 
the  isthmus  of  Central  America.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  conceive  that  whilst  the  Constitution 
has  expressly  required  Congress  to  defend  all 
the  States  it  should  yet  deny  to  them,  by  any 
fair  construction,  the  only  possible  means  by 
which  one  of  these  States  can  be  defended. 
Besides,  the  Government,  ever  since  its  origin, 
has  been  in  the  constant  practice  of  construct- 
ing military  roads.  It  might  also  be  wise  to 
consider  whether  the  love  for  the  Union  which 
now  animates  our  fellow-citizens  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  may  not  be  impaired  by  our  neglect  or 

34 


refusal  to  provide  for  them,  in  their  remote 
and  isolated  condition,  the  only  means  by 
which  the  power  of  the  States  on  this  side  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  can  reach  them  in 
sufficient  time  to  "protect"  them  "against 
invasion."  I  forbear  for  the  present  from 
expressing  an  opinion  as  to  the  wisest  and 
most  economical  mode  in  which  the  Govern- 
ment can  lend  its  aid  in  accomplishing  this 
great  and  necessary  work.  I  believe  that 
many  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way,  which  now 
appear  formidable,  will  in  a  great  degree  van- 
ish as  soon  as  the  nearest  and  best  route  shall 
have  been  satisfactorily  ascertained. 

It  may  be  proper  that  on  this  occasion  I 
should  make  some  brief  remarks  in  regard  to 
our  rights  and  duties  as  a  member  of  the  great 
family  of  nations.  In  our  intercourse  with 
them  there  are  some  plain  principles,  approved 
by  our  own  experience,  from  which  we  should 
never  depart.  We  ought  to  cultivate  peace, 
commerce,  and  friendship  with  all  natiofts,  and 
this  not  merely  as  the  best  means  of  promot- 
ing our  own  material  interests,  but  in  a  spirit 
of  Christian  benevolence  toward  our  fellow- 
men,  wherever  their  lot  may  be  cast.  Our 
diplomacy  should  be  direct  and  frank,  neither 
seeking  to  obtain  more  nor  accepting  less  than 
is  our  due.  We  ought  to  cherish  a  sacred 
regard  for  the  independence  of  all  nations,  and 
never  attempt  to  interfere  in  the  domestic  con- 
cerns of  any  unless  this  shall  be  imperatively 

35 


inaugural 


required  by  the  great  law  of  self-preservation. 
To  avoid  entangling  alliances  has  been  a 
maxim  of  our  policy  ever  since  the  days  of 
Washington,  and  its  wisdom  no  one  will 
attempt  to  dispute.  In  short,  we  ought  to  do 
justice  in  a  kindly  spirit  to  all  nations  and 
require  justice  from  them  in  return. 

It  is  our  glory  that  whilst  other  nations  have 
extended  their  dominions  by  the  sword  we 
have  never  acquired  any  territory  except  by 
fair  purchase  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Texas,  by 
the  voluntary  determination  of  a  brave,  kin- 
dred, and  independent  people  to  blend  their 
destinies  with  our  own.  Even  our  acquisi- 
tions from  Mexico  form  no  exception.  Un- 
willing to  take  advantage  of  the  fortune  of 
war  against  a  sister  republic,  we  purchased 
these  possessions  under  the  treaty  of  peace 
for  a  sum  which  was  considered  at  the  time  a 
fair  equivalent.  Our  past  history  forbids  that 
we  shall  in  the  future  acquire  territory  unless 
this  be  sanctioned  by  the  laws  of  justice  and 
honor.  Acting  on  this  principle,  no  nation 
will  have  a  right  to  interfere  or  to  complain  if 
in  the  progress  of  events  we  shall  still  further 
extend  our  possessions.  Hitherto  in  all  our 
acquisitions  the  people,  under  the  protection 
of  the  American  flag,  have  enjoyed  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  as  well  as  equal  and  just 
laws,  and  have  been  contented,  prosperous, 
and  happy.  Their  trade  with  the  rest  of  the 
world  has  rapidly  increased,  and  thus  every 

36 


commercial  nation  has  shared  largely  in  their 
successful  progress. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  take  the  oath  pre- 
scribed by  the  Constitution,  whilst  humbly  in- 
voking the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence  on 
this  great  people. 

March  4,  1857. 


37 


abradant  Lincoln 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

IN  compliance  with  a  custom  as  old  as  the 
Government  itself,  I  appear  before  you  to 
address  you  briefly  and  to  take  in  your 
presence  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  to  be  taken  by  the 
President  "before  he  enters  on  the  execution 
of  his  office." 

I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  at  present  for 
me  to  discuss  those  matters  of  administration 
about  which  there  is  no  special  anxiety  or 
excitement. 

Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among  the 
people  of  the  Southern  States  that  by  the  ac- 
cession of  a  Republican  Administration  their 
property  and  their  peace  and  personal  secur- 
ity are  to  be  endangered.  There  has  never 
been  any  reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehen- 
sion. Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the 
contrary  has  all  the  while  existed  and  been 
open  to  their  inspection.  It  is  found  in  nearly 
all  the  published  speeches  of  him  who  now 
addresses  you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of 
those  speeches  when  I  declare  that — 

I  have  no  purpose,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  inter- 
fere with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where 

39 


Inaugural 


it  exists.    I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so, 
and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so. 

Those  who  nominated  and  elected  me  did  so 
with  full  knowledge  that  I  had  made  this  and 
many  similar  declarations,  and  had  never  re- 
canted them;  and  more  than  this,  they  placed 
in  the  platform  for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a 
law  to  themselves  and  to  me,  the  clear  and 
emphatic  resolution  which  I  now  read: 

Resolved,  That  the :  maintenance  inviolate  of  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each 
State  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic  institu- 
tions according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is 
essential  to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  per- 
fection and  endurance  of  our  political  fabric  depend ; 
and  we  denounce  the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force 
of  the  soil  of  any  State  or  Territory,  no  matter  under 
what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of  crimes. 

I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments,  and  in 
doing  so,  I  only  press  upon  the  public  atten- 
tion the  most  conclusive  evidence  of  which  the 
case  is  susceptible  that  the  property,  peace, 
and  security  of  no  section  are  to  be  in  any  wise 
endangered  by  the  now  incoming  Administra- 
tion. I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which, 
consistently  with  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,  can  be  given  will  be  cheerfully  given  to 
all  the  States  when  lawfully  demanded,  for 
whatever  cause — as  cheerfully  to  one  section 
as  to  another. 

There  is  much  controversy  about  the  deliver- 
ing up  of  fugitives  from  service  or  labor.  The 

40 


Lincoln 


clause  I  now  read  is  as  plainly  written  in  the 
Constitution  as  any  other  of  its  provisions: 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State, 
under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall 
in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein  be 
discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be 
delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  ser- 
vice or  labor  may  be  due. 

It  is  scarcely  questioned  that  this  provision 
was  intended  by  those  who  made  it  for  the 
reclaiming  of  what  we  call  fugitive  slaves ;  and 
the  intention  of  the  law-giver  is  the  law.  All 
members  of  Congress  swear  their  support  to 
the  whole  Constitution — to  this  provision  as 
much  as  to  any  other.  To  the  proposition, 
then,  that  slaves  whose  cases  come  within  the 
terms  of  this  clause  "shall  be  delivered  up" 
their  oaths  are  unanimous.  Now,  if  they 
would  make  the  effort  in  good  temper,  could 
they  not  with  nearly  equal  unanimity  frame 
and  pass  a  law  by  means  of  which  to  keep 
good  that  unanimous  oath? 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  whether 
this  clause  should  be  enforced  by  national  or 
by  State  authority,  but  surely  that  difference 
is  not  a  very  material  one.  If  the  slave  is  to 
be  surrendered,  it  can  be  of  but  little  conse- 
quence to  him  or  to  others  by  which  authority 
it  is  done.  And  should  any  one  in  any  case 
be  content  that  his  oath  shall  go  unkept  on  a 
merely  unsubstantial  controversy  as  to  how  it 
shall  be  kept? 

41 


5  naurjural 


Again:  In  any  law  upon  this  subject  ought 
not  all  the  safeguards  of  liberty  known  in  civil- 
ized and  humane  jurisprudence  to  be  intro- 
duced, so  that  a  free  man  be  not  in  any  case 
surrendered  as  a  slave?  And  might  it  not  be 
well  at  the  same  time  to  provide  by  law  for 
the  enforcement  of  that  clause  in  the  Constitu- 
tion which  guarantees  that  "the  citizens  of 
each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States"? 

I  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental 
reservations  and  with  no  purpose  to  construe 
the  Constitution  or  laws  by  any  hypercritical 
rules;  and  while  I  do  not  choose  now  to 
specify  particular  acts  of  Congress  as  proper 
to  be  enforced,  I  do  suggest  that  it  will  be 
much  safer  for  all,  both  in  official  and  private 
stations,  to  conform  to  and  abide  by  all  those 
acts  which  stand  unrepealed  than  to  violate 
any  of  them  trusting  to  find  impunity  in  having 
them  held  to  be  unconstitutional. 

It  is  seventy-two  years  since  the  first  inaugu- 
ration of  a  President  under  our  National  Con- 
stitution. During  that  period  fifteen  different 
and  greatly  distinguished  citizens  have  in  suc- 
cession administered  the  executive  branch  of 
the  Government.  They  have  conducted  it 
through  many  perils,  and  generally  with  great 
success.  Yet,  with  all  this  scope  of  prece- 
dent, I  now  enter  upon  the  same  task  for  the 
brief  constitutional  term  of  four  years  under 
great  and  peculiar  difficulty.  A  disruption  of 

42 


Itincoln 


the  Federal  Union,  heretofore  only  menaced, 
is  now  formidably  attempted. 

I  hold  that  in  contemplation  of  universal 
law  and  of  the  Constitution  the  Union  of  these 
States  is  perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied,  if 
not  expressed,  in  the  fundamental  law  of  all 
national  governments.  It  is  safe  to  assert 
that  no  government  proper  ever  had  a  pro- 
vision in  its  organic  law  for  its  own  termina- 
tion. Continue  to  execute  all  the  express 
provisions  of  our  National  Constitution,  and 
the  Union  will  endure  forever,  it  being  impos- 
sible to  destroy  it  except  by  some  action  not 
provided  for  in  the  instrument  itself. 

Again :  If  the  United  States  be  not  a  gov- 
ernment proper,  but  an  association  of  States 
in  the  nature  of  contract  merely,  can  it,  as  a 
contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by  less  than  all 
the  parties  who  made  it?  One  party  to  a  con- 
tract may  violate  it — break  it,  so  to  speak — 
but  does  it  not  require  all  to  lawfully  rescind  it? 

Descending  from  these  general  principles, 
we  find  the  proposition  that  in  legal  contem- 
plation the  Union  is  perpetual  confirmed  by 
the  history  of  the  Union  itself.  The  Union  is 
much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was 
formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of  Associa- 
tion, in  1774.  It  was  matured  and  continued 
by  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776. 
It  was  further  matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the 
then  thirteen  States  expressly  plighted  and 
engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the 

43 


3  naugural 


Articles  of  Confederation  in  1778.  And 
finally,  in  1787,  one  of  the  declared  objects 
for  ordaining  and  establishing  the  Constitution 
was  "to  form  a  more  perfect  Union." 

But  if  destruction  of  the  Union  by  one  or 
by  a  part  only  of  the  States  be  lawfully  pos- 
sible, the  Union  is  less  perfect  than  before  the 
Constitution,  having  lost  the  vital  element  of 
perpetuity. 

It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  State 
upon  its  own  mere  motion  can  lawfully  get 
out  of  the  Union;  that  resolves  and  ordinances 
to  that  effect  are  legally  void,  and  that  acts  of 
violence  within  any  State  or  States  against  the 
authority  of  the  United  States  are  insurrection- 
ary or  revolutionary,  according  to  circum- 
stances. 

I  therefore  consider  that  in  view  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws  the  Union  is  un- 
broken, and  to  the  extent  of  my  ability  I  shall 
take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  expressly 
enjoins  upon  me,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union 
be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States.  Doing 
this  I  deem  to  be  only  a  simple  duty  on  my 
part,  and  I  shall  perform  it  so  far  as  practi- 
cable, unless  my  rightful  masters,  the  American 
people,  shall  withhold  the  requisite  means  or 
in  some  authoritative  manner  direct  the  con- 
trary. I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a 
menace,  but  only  as  the  declared  purpose  of 
the  Union  that  it  will  constitutionally  defend 
and  maintain  itself. 

44 


SHmiftam  Lincoln 


In  doing  this  there  needs  to  be  no  bloodshed 
or  violence,  and  there  shall  be  none  unless  it 
be  forced  upon  the  national  authority.  The 
power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold, 
occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places 
belonging  to  the  Government  and  to  collect 
the  duties  and  imposts;  but  beyond  what  may 
be  necessary  for  these  objects,  there  will  be 
no  invasion,  no  using  of  force  against  or 
among  the  people  anywhere.  Where  hostility 
to  the  United  States  in  any  interior  locality 
shall  be  so  great  and  universal  as  to  prevent 
competent  resident  citizens  from  holding  the 
Federal  offices,  there  will  be  no  attempt  to 
force  obnoxious  strangers  among  the  people 
for  that  object.  While  the  strict  legal  right 
may  exist  in  the  Government  to  enforce  the 
exercise  of  these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so 
would  be  so  irritating  and  so  nearly  imprac- 
ticable withal  that  I  deem  it  better  to  forego 
for  the  time  the  uses  of  such  offices. 

The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will  continue  to 
be  furnished  in  all  parts  of  the  Union.  So 
far  as  possible  the  people  everywhere  shall 
have  that  sense  of  perfect  security  which  is 
most  favorable  to  calm  thought  and  reflection. 
The  course  here  indicated  will  be  followed  un- 
less current  events  and  experience  shall  show 
a  modification  or  change  to  be  proper,  and  in 
every  case  and  exigency  my  best  discretion 
will  be  exercised,  according  to  circumstances 
actually  existing  and  with  a  view  and  a  hope 

45 


inaugural 


of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  national  troubles 
and  the  restoration  of  fraternal  sympathies  and 
affections. 

That  there  are  persons  in  one  section  or 
another  who  seek  to  destroy  the  Union  at  all 
events  and  are  glad  of  any  pretext  to  do  it  I 
will  neither  affirm  nor  deny;  but  if  there  be 
such,  I  need  address  no  word  to  them.  To 
those,  however,  who  really  love  the  Union  may 
I  not  speak? 

Before  entering  upon  so  grave  a  matter  as 
the  destruction  of  our  national  fabric,  with  all 
its  benefits,  its  memories,  and  its  hopes,  would 
it  not  be  wise  to  ascertain  precisely  why  we  do 
it?  Will  you  hazard  so  desperate  a  step  while 
there  is  any  possibility  that  any  portion  of  the 
ills  you  fly  from  have  no  real  existence?  Will 
you,  while  the  certain  ills  you  fly  to  are  greater 
than  all  the  real  ones  you  fly  from,  will  you 
risk  the  commission  of  so  fearful  a  mistake? 

All  profess  to  be  content  in  the  Union  if  all 
constitutional  rights  can  be  maintained.  Is  it 
true,  then,  that  any  right  plainly  written  in  the 
Constitution  has  been  denied?  I  think  not. 
Happily,  the  human  mind  is  so  constituted 
that  no  party  can  reach  to  the  audacity  of 
doing  this.  Think,  if  you  can,  of  a  single 
instance  in  which  a  plainly  written  provision 
of  the  Constitution  has  ever  been  denied.  If 
by  the  mere  force  of  numbers  a  majority 
should  deprive  a  minority  of  any  clearly  writ- 
ten constitutional  right,  it  might  in  a  moral 

46 


&6raf)am  Eituoln 


point  of  view  justify  revolution;  certainly 
would  if  such  right  were  a  vital  one.  But 
such  is  not  our  case.  All  the  vital  rights  of 
minorities  and  of  individuals  are  so  plainly 
assured  to  them  by  affirmations  and  negations, 
guaranties  and  prohibitions,  in  the  Constitu- 
tion that  controversies  never  arise  concerning 
them.  But  no  organic  law  can  ever  be  framed 
with  a  provision  specifically  applicable  to  every 
question  which  may  occur  in  practical  adminis- 
tration. No  foresight  can  anticipate  nor  any 
document  of  reasonable  length  contain  express 
provisions  for  all  possible  questions.  Shall 
fugitives  from  labor  be  surrendered  by  national 
or  by  State  authority?  The  Constitution  does 
not  expressly  say.  May  Congress  prohibit 
slavery  in  the  Territories?  The  Constitution 
does  not  expressly  say.  Must  Congress  pro- 
tect slavery  in  the  Territories?  The  Constitu- 
tion does  not  expressly  say. 

From  questions  of  this  class  spring  all  our 
constitutional  controversies,  and  we  divide 
upon  them  into  majorities  and  minorities.  If 
the  minority  will  not  acquiesce,  the  majority 
must,  or  the  Government  must  cease.  There 
is  no  other  alternative,  for  continuing  the 
Government  is  acquiescence  on  one  side  or 
the  other.  If  a  minority  in  such  case  will 
secede  rather  than  acquiesce,  they  make  a 
precedent  which  in  turn  will  divide  and  ruin 
them,  for  a  minority  of  their  own  will  secede 
from  them  whenever  a  majority  refuses  to  be 

47 


inaugural 


controlled  by  such  minority.  For  instance, 
why  may  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy 
a  year  or  two  hence  arbitrarily  secede  again, 
precisely  as  portions  of  the  present  Union  now 
claim  to  secede  from  it?  All  who  cherish  dis- 
union sentiments  are  now  being  educated  to 
the  exact  temper  of  doing  this. 

Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interests 
among  the  States  to  compose  a  new  union  as 
to  produce  harmony  only  and  prevent  renewed 
secession? 

Plainly  the  central  idea  of  secession  is  the 
essence  of  anarchy.  A  majority  held  in  re- 
straint by  constitutional  checks  and  limitations, 
and  always  changing  easily  with  deliberate 
changes  of  popular  opinions  and  sentiments, 
is  the  only  true  sovereign  of  a  free  people. 
Whoever  rejects  it  does  of  necessity  fly  to 
anarchy  or  to  despotism.  Unanimity  is  impos- 
sible. The  rule  of  a  minority,  as  a  permanent 
arrangement,  is  wholly  inadmissible;  so  that, 
rejecting  the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or 
despotism  in  some  form  is  all  that  is  left. 

I  do  not  forget  the  position  assumed  by 
some  that  constitutional  questions  are  to  be 
decided  by  the  Supreme  Court,  nor  do  I  deny 
that  such  decisions  must  be  binding  in  any 
case  upon  the  parties  to  a  suit  as  to  the  object 
of  that  suit,  while  they  are  also  entitled  to 
very  high  respect  and  consideration  in  all  par- 
allel cases  by  all  other  departments  of  the 
Government.  And  while  it  is  obviously  pos- 

48 


Lincoln 


sible  that  such  decision  may  be  erroneous  in 
any  given  case,  still  the  evil  effect  following  it, 
being  limited  to  that  particular  case,  with  the 
chance  that  it  may  be  overruled  and  never 
become  a  precedent  for  other  cases,  can  better 
be  borne  than  could  the  evils  of  a  different 
practice.  At  the  same  time,  the  candid  citi- 
zen must  confess  that  if  the  policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment upon  vital  questions  affecting  the 
whole  people  is  to  be  irrevocably  fixed  by  de- 
cisions of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  instant  they 
are  made  in  ordinary  litigation  between  parties 
in  personal  actions  the  people  will  have  ceased 
to  be  their  own  rulers,  having  to  that  extent 
practically  resigned  their  Government  into  the 
hands  of  that  eminent  tribunal.  Nor  is  there 
in  this  view  any  assault  upon  the  court  or  the 
judges.  It  is  a  duty  from  which  they  may  not 
shrink  to  decide  cases  properly  brought  before 
them,  and  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  if  others 
seek  to  turn  their  decisions  to  political  pur- 
poses. 

One  section  of  our  country  believes  slavery 
is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended,  while  the 
other  believes  it  is  wrong  and  ought  not  to  be 
extended.  This  is  the  only  substantial  dis- 
pute. The  fugitive-slave  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  law  for  the  suppression  of  the 
foreign  slave  trade  are  each  as  well  enforced, 
perhaps,  as  any  law  can  ever  be  in  a  commu- 
nity where  the  moral  sense  of  the  people  imper- 
fectly supports  the  law  itself.  The  great  body 

49 


of  the  people  abide  by  the  dry  legal  obligation 
in  both  cases,  and  a  few  break  over  in  each. 
This,  I  think,  cannot  be  perfectly  cured,  and 
it  would  be  worse  in  both  cases  after  the  separ- 
ation of  the  sections  than  before.  The  foreign 
slave  trade,  now  imperfectly  suppressed,  would 
be  ultimately  revived  without  restriction  in  one 
section,  while  fugitive  slaves,  now  only  par- 
tially surrendered,  would  not  be  surrendered 
at  all  by  the  other. 

Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate. 
We  cannot  remove  our  respective  sections 
from  each  other  nor  build  an  impassable  wall 
between  them.  A  husband  and  wife  may  be 
divorced  and  go  out  of  the  presence  and  be- 
yond the  reach  of  each  other,  but  the  different 
parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They 
cannot  but  remain  face  to  face,  and  inter- 
course, either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  con- 
tinue between  them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to 
make  that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or 
more  satisfactory  after  separation  than  before? 
Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends 
can  make  laws?  Can  treaties  be  more  faith- 
fully enforced  between  aliens  than  laws  can 
among  friends?  Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you 
cannot  fight  always;  and  when,  after  much 
loss  on  both  sides  and  no  gain  on  either,  you 
cease  fighting,  the  identical  old  questions,  as 
to  terms  of  intercourse,  are  again  upon  you. 

This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs 
to  the  people  who  inhabit  it.  Whenever  they 


Hincofa 


shall  grow  weary  of  the  existing  Government, 
they  can  exercise  their  constitutional  right  of 
amending  it  or  their  revolutionary  right  to  dis- 
member or  overthrow  it.  I  cannot  be  ignorant 
of  the  fact  that  many  worthy  and  patriotic 
citizens  are  desirous  of  having  the  National 
Constitution  amended.  While  I  make  no 
recommendation  of  amendments,  I  fully  recog- 
nize the  rightful  authority  of  the  people  over 
the  whole  subject,  to  be  exercised  in  either  of 
the  modes  prescribed  in  the  instrument  itself; 
and  I  should,  under  existing  circumstances, 
favor  rather  than  oppose  a  fair  opportunity 
being  afforded  the  people  to  act  upon  it.  I 
will  venture  to  add  that  to  me  the  convention 
mode  seems  preferable,  in  that  it  allows 
amendments  to  originate  with  the  people 
themselves,  instead  of  only  permitting  them 
to  take  or  reject  propositions  originated  by 
others,  not  especially  chosen  for  the  purpose, 
and  which  might  not  be  precisely  such  as  they 
would  wish  to  either  accept  or  refuse.  I 
understand  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution— which  amendment,  however,  I  have 
not  seen — has  passed  Congress,  to  the  effect 
that  the  Federal  Government  shall  never  inter- 
fere with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the 
States,  including  that  of  persons  held  to  ser- 
vice. To  avoid  misconstruction  of  what  I 
have  said,  I  depart  from  my  purpose  not  to 
speak  of  particular  amendments  so  far  as  to 
say  that,  holding  such  a  provision  to  now  be 


inaugural 


implied  constitutional  law,  I  have  no  objection 
to  its  being  made  express  and  irrevocable. 

The  Chief  Magistrate  derives  all  his  author- 
ity from  the  people,  and  they  have  conferred 
none  upon  him  to  fix  terms  for  the  separation 
of  the  States.  The  people  themselves  can  do 
this  also  if  they  choose,  but  the  Executive  as 
such  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  His  duty  is 
to  administer  the  present  Government  as  it 
came  to  his  hands  and  to  transmit  it  unimpaired 
by  him  to  his  successor. 

Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confi- 
dence in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people? 
Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world? 
In  our  present  differences,  is  either  party  with- 
out faith  of  being  in  the  right?  If  the  Almighty 
Ruler  of  Nations,  with  His  eternal  truth  and 
justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on 
yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that  justice 
will  surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this  great 
tribunal  of  the  American  people. 

By  the  frame  of  the  Government  under 
which  we  live  this  same  people  have  wisely 
given  their  public  servants  but  little  power  for 
mischief,  and  have  with  equal  wisdom  pro- 
vided for  the  return  of  that  little  to  their  own 
hands  at  very  short  intervals.  While  the  peo- 
ple retain  their  virtue  and  vigilance  no  Adminis- 
tration by  any  extreme  of  wickedness  or  folly 
can  very  seriously  injure  the  Government  in 
the  short  space  of  four  years. 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly 

52 


Hincoln 


and  well  upon  this  whole  subject.  Nothing 
valuable  can  be  lost  by  taking  time.  If  there 
be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of  you  in  hot  haste 
to  a  step  which  you  would  never  take  deliber- 
ately, that  object  will  be  frustrated  by  taking 
time;  but  no  good  object  can  be  frustrated  by 
it.  Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied  still 
have  the  old  Constitution  unimpaired,  and,  on 
the  sensitive  point,  the  laws  of  your  own 
framing  under  it;  while  the  new  Administra- 
tion will  have  no  immediate  power,  if  it  would, 
to  change  either.  If  it  were  admitted  that  you 
who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the  right  side  in  the 
dispute,  there  still  is  no  single  good  reason  for 
precipitate  action.  Intelligence,  patriotism, 
Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him  who 
has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land  are 
still  competent  to  .adjust  in  the  best  way  all 
our  present  difficulty. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-coun- 
trymen, and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous 
issue  of  civil  war.  The  Government  will  not 
assail  you.  You  can  have  no  conflict  without 
being  yourselves  the  aggressors.  You  have 
no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to  destroy  the 
Government,  while  7  shall  have  the  most 
solemn  one  to  "preserve,  protect,  and  defend 
it." 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies, 
but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies. 
Though  passion  may  have  strained  it  must  not 
break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic 

53 


inaugural 


chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living 
heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land, 
will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when 
again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the 
better  angels  of  our  natures. 
March  4,  1861. 


54 


abradant  Lincoln 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN:  At  this 
second  appearing  to  take  the  oath  of  the 
Presidential  office  there  is  less  occasion 
for  an  extended  address  than  there  was  at  the 
first.  Then  a  statement  somewhat  in  detail  of  a 
course  to  be  pursued  seemed  fitting  and  proper. 
Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  during 
which  public  declarations  have  been  constantly 
called  forth  on  every  point  and  phase  of  the 
great  contest  which  still  absorbs  the  attention 
and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation,  little 
that  is  new  could  be  presented.  The  progress 
of  our  arms,  upon  which  all  else  chiefly  de- 
pends, is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as  to 
myself,  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfac- 
tory and  encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope 
for  the  future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is 
ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four 
years  ago,  all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed 
to  an  impending  civil  war.  All  dreaded  it,  all 
sought  to  avert  it.  While  the  inaugural  ad- 
dress was  being  delivered  from  this  place, 
devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union  with- 
out war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the  city 
seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war — seeking  to 

55 


inaugural 


dissolve  the  Union  and  divide  effects  by  nego- 
tiation. Both  parties  deprecated  war,  but  one 
of  them  would  make  war  rather  than  let  the 
nation  survive,  and  the  other  would  accept  war 
rather  than  let  it  perish,  and  the  war  came. 

One-eighth  of  the  whole  population  were 
colored  slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over 
the  Union,  but  localized  in  the  southern  part 
of  it.  These  slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and 
powerful  interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest 
was  somehow  the  cause  of  the  war.  To 
strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  extend  this  inter- 
est was  the  object  for  which  the  insurgents 
would  rend  the  Union  even  by  war,  while  the 
Government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more  than 
to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 
Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magni- 
tude or  the  duration  which  it  has  already 
attained.  Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause 
of  the  conflict  might  cease  with  or  even  before 
the  conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked 
for  an  easier  triumph,  and  a  result  less  funda- 
mental and  astounding.  Both  read  the  same 
Bible  and  pray  to  the  same  God,  and  each 
invokes  His  aid  against  the  other.  It  may 
seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their 
bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces, 
but  let  us  judge  not  that  we  be  not  judged. 
The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered. 
That  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The 
Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  "Woe  unto 

56 


Uincoln 


the  world  because  of  offenses;  for  it  must 
needs  be  that  offenses  come,  but  woe  to  that 
man  by  whom  the  offense  cometh."  If  we 
shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of 
those  offenses  which,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  continued 
through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to 
remove,  and  that  He  gives  to  both  North  and 
South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those 
by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  discern 
therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attri- 
butes which  the  believers  in  a  living  God 
always  ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we  hope, 
fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God 
wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled 
by  the  bondsman's  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and 
until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword, 
as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still 
it  must  be  said  "the  judgments  of  the  Lord 
are  true  and  righteous  altogether." 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for 
all,  with  firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us 
to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the 
work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds, 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  bat- 
tle and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphan,  to  do  all 
which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  last- 
ing peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations. 

March  4,  1865. 

57 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

[From  the  Sunday  Morning  Chronicle,  Washington, 
April  16,  1865,  and  The  Sun,  Baltimore,  April 
17,  1865.] 


GENTLEMEN:  I  must  be  permitted  to 
say  that  I  have  been  almost  over- 
whelmed by  the  announcement  of  the 
sad  event  which  has  so  recently  occurred.  I 
feel  incompetent  to  perform  duties  so  impor- 
tant and  responsible  as  those  which  have  been 
so  unexpectedly  thrown  upon  me.  As  to  an 
indication  of  any  policy  which  may  be  pursued 
by  me  in  the  administration  of  the  Government, 
I  have  to  say  that  that  must  be  left  for  devel- 
opment as  the  Administration  progresses.  The 
message  or  declaration  must  be  made  by  the 
acts  as  they  transpire.  The  only  assurance 
that  I  can  now  give  of  the  future  is  reference 
to  the  past.  The  course  which  I  have  taken 
in  the  past  in  connection  with  this  rebellion 
must  be  regarded  as  a  guaranty  of  the  future. 
My  past  public  life,  which  has  been  long  and 
laborious,  has  been  founded,  as  I  in  good 
conscience  believe,  upon  a  great  principle  of 
right,  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  things. 
The  best  energies  of  my  life  have  been  spent 
in  endeavoring  to  establish  and  perpetuate  the 

59 


principles  of  free  government,  and  I  believe 
that  the  Government  in  passing  through  its 
present  perils  will  settle  down  upon  principles 
consonant  with  popular  rights  more  permanent 
and  enduring  than  heretofore.  I  must  be  per- 
mitted to  say,  if  I  understand  the  feelings  of 
my  own  heart,  that  I  have  long  labored  to 
ameliorate  and  elevate  the  condition  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  American  people.  Toil  and 
an  honest  advocacy  of  the  great  principles  of 
free  government  have  been  my  lot.  Duties 
have  been  mine;  consequences  are  God's. 
This  has  been  the  foundation  of  my  political 
creed,  and  I  feel  that  in  the  end  the  Govern- 
ment will  triumph  and  that  these  great  prin- 
ciples will  be  permanently  established 

In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  let  me  say  that 
I  want  your  encouragement  and  countenance. 
I  shall  ask  and  rely  upon  you  and  others  in 
carrying  the  Government  through  its  present 
perils.  I  feel  in  making  this  request  that  it 
will  be  heartily  responded  to  by  you  and  all 
other  patriots  and  lovers  of  the  rights  and 
interests  of  a  free  people. 

April  15,  1865. 


60 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

YOUR  suffrages  having  elected  me  to  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States, 
I  have,  in  conformity  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  our  country,  taken  the  oath  of  office 
prescribed  therein.  I  have  taken  this  oath 
without  mental  reservation  and  with  the  deter- 
mination to  do  to  the  best  of  my  ability  all  that 
is  required  of  me.  The  responsibilities  of  the 
position  I  feel,  but  accept  them  without  fear. 
The  office  has  come  to  me  unsought;  I  com- 
mence its  duties  untrammeled.  I  bring  to  it 
a  conscious  desire  and  determination  to  fill  it 
to  the  best  of  my  ability  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  people. 

On  all  leading  questions  agitating  the  public 
mind  I  will  always  express  my  views  to  Con- 
gress and  urge  them  according  to  my  judgment, 
and  when  I  think  it  advisable  will  exercise  the 
constitutional  privilege  of  interposing  a  veto 
to  defeat  measures  which  I  oppose;  but  all 
laws  will  be  faithfully  executed,  whether  they 
meet  my  approval  or  not. 

I  shall  on  all  subjects  have  a  policy  to  recom- 
mend, but  none  to  enforce  against  the  will  of 
the  people.  Laws  are  to  govern  all  alike  — 
61 


"Jnaugural 


those  opposed  as  well  as  those  who  favor  them. 
I  know  no  method  to  secure  the  repeal  of  bad 
or  obnoxious  laws  so  effective  as  their  strin- 
gent execution. 

The  country  having  just  emerged  from  a 
great  rebellion,  many  questions  will  come 
before  it  for  settlement  in  the  next  four  years 
which  preceding  Administrations  have  never 
had  to  deal  with.  In  meeting  these  it  is  desir- 
able that  they  should  be  approached  calmly, 
without  prejudice,  hate,  or  sectional  pride, 
remembering  that  the  greatest  good  to  the 
greatest  number  is  the  object  to  be  attained. 

This  requires  security  of  person,  property, 
and  free  religious  and  political  opinion  in 
every  part  of  our  common  country,  without 
regard  to  local  prejudice.  All  laws  to  secure 
these  ends  will  receive  my  best  efforts  for  their 
enforcement. 

A  great  debt  has  been  contracted  in  securing 
to  us  and  our  posterity  the  Union.  The  pay- 
ment of  this,  principal  and  interest,  as  well  as 
the  return  to  a  specie  basis  as  soon  as  it  can 
be  accomplished  without  material  detriment  to 
the  debtor  class  or  to  the  country  at  large, 
must  be  provided  for.  To  protect  the  national 
honor,  every  dollar  of  Government  indebted- 
ness should  be  paid  in  gold,  unless  otherwise 
expressly  stipulated  in  the  contract.  Let  it  be 
understood  that  no  repudiator  of  one  farthing 
of  our  public  debt  will  be  trusted  in  public 
place,  and  it  will  go  far  toward  strengthening 

62 


a  credit  which  ought  to  be  the  best  in  the 
world,  and  will  ultimately  enable  us  to  replace 
the  debt  with  bonds  bearing  less  interest  than 
we  now  pay.  To  this  should  be  added  a  faith- 
ful collection  of  the  revenue,  a  strict  account- 
ability to  the  Treasury  for  every  dollar  collected, 
and  the  greatest  practicable  retrenchment  in 
expenditure  in  every  department  of  Govern- 
ment. 

When  we  compare  the  paying  capacity  of 
the  country  now,  with  the  ten  States  in  pov- 
erty from  the  effects  of  war,  but  soon  to 
emerge,  I  trust,  into  greater  prosperity  than 
ever  before,  with  its  paying  capacity  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  and  calculate  what  it  probably 
will  be  twenty-five  years  hence,  who  can  doubt 
the  feasibility  of  paying  every  dollar  then  with 
more  ease  than  we  now  pay  for  useless  luxuries? 
Why,  it  looks  as  though  Providence  had  be- 
stowed upon  us  a  strong  box  in  the  precious 
metals  locked  up  in  the  sterile  mountains  of 
the  far  West,  and  which  we  are  now  forging 
the  key  to  unlock,  to  meet  the  very  contin- 
gency that  is  now  upon  us. 

Ultimately  it  may  be  necessary  to  insure 
the  facilities  to  reach  these  riches,  and  it  may 
be  necessary  also  that  the  General  Government 
should  give  its  aid  to  secure  this  access;  but 
that  should  only  be  when  a  dollar  of  obligation 
to  pay  secures  precisely  the  same  sort  of  dollar 
to  use  now,  and  not  before.  Whilst  the  ques- 
tion of  specie  payments  is  in  abeyance  the 

63 


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prudent  business  man  is  careful  about  con- 
tracting debts  payable  in  the  distant  future. 
The  nation  should  follow  the  same  rule.  A 
prostrate  commerce  is  to  be  rebuilt  and  all 
industries  encouraged. 

The  young  men  of  the  country — those  who 
from  their  age  must  be  its  rulers  twenty-five 
years  hence — have  a  peculiar  interest  in  main- 
taining the  national  honor.  A  moment's  re- 
flection as  to  what  will  be  our  commanding 
influence  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  in 
their  day,  if  they  are  only  true  to  themselves, 
should  inspire  them  with  national  pride.  All 
divisions — geographical,  political,  and  religious 
— can  join  in  this  common  sentiment.  How 
the  public  debt  is  to  be  paid  or  specie  pay- 
ments resumed  is  not  so  important  as  that  a 
plan  should  be  adopted  and  acquiesced  in.  A 
united  determination  to  do  is  worth  more  than 
divided  counsels  upon  the  method  of  doing. 
Legislation  upon  this  subject  may  not  be  neces- 
sary now,  nor  even  advisable,  but  it  will  be 
when  the  civil  law  is  more  fully  restored  in  all 
parts  of  the  country  and  trade  resumes  its 
wonted  channels. 

It  will  be  my  endeavor  to  execute  all  laws 
in  good  faith,  to  collect  all  revenues  assessed, 
and  to  have  them  properly  accounted  for  and 
economically  disbursed.  I  will  to  the  best  of 
my  ability  appoint  to  office  those  only  who 
will  carry  out  this  design. 

In  regard  to  foreign  policy,  I  would  deal 

64 


with  nations  as  equitable  law  requires  individu- 
als to  deal  with  each  other,  and  I  would  protect 
the  law-abiding  citizen,  whether  of  native  or 
foreign  birth,  wherever  his  rights  are  jeopard- 
ized or  the  flag  of  our  country  floats.  I  would 
respect  the  rights  of  all  nations,  demanding 
equal  respect  for  our  own.  If  others  depart 
from  this  rule  in  their  dealings  with  us,  we 
may  be  compelled  to  follow  their  precedent. 

The  proper  treatment  of  the  original  occu- 
pants of  this  land — the  Indians — is  one  deserv- 
ing of  careful  study.  I  will  favor  any  course 
toward  them  which  tends  to  their  civilization 
and  ultimate  citizenship. 

The  question  of  suffrage  is  one  which  is 
likely  to  agitate  the  public  so  long  as  a  por- 
tion of  the  citizens  of  the  nation  are  excluded 
from  its  privileges  in  any  State.  It  seems  to 
me  very  desirable  that  this  question  should  be 
settled  now,  and  I  entertain  the  hope  and 
express  the  desire  that  it  may  be  by  the  ratifi- 
cation of  the  fifteenth  article  of  amendment  to 
the  Constitution. 

In  conclusion  I  ask  patient  forbearance  one 
toward  another  throughout  the  land,  and  a 
determined  effort  on  the  part  of  every  citizen 
to  do  his  share  toward  cementing  a  happy 
union;  and  I  ask  the  prayers  of  the  nation  to 
Almighty  God  in  behalf  of  this  consummation. 

March  4,  1869. 


£D.  (Brant 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:     Under     Provi- 
dence I  have  been  called  a  second  time 
to   act    as   Executive   over  this  great 
nation.     It  has  been  my  endeavor  in  the  past 
to  maintain  all  the  laws,  and,  so  far  as  lay  in 
my  power,  to  act  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
whole  people.     My  best  efforts  will  be  given 
in  the  same  direction  in  the  future,  aided,  I 
trust,  by  my  four  years'  experience  in  the 
office. 

When  my  first  term  of  the  office  of  Chief 
Executive  began,  the  country  had  not  recov- 
ered from  the  effects  of  a  great  internal  revo- 
lution, and  three  of  the  former  States  of  the 
Union  had  not  been  restored  to  their  Federal 
relations. 

It  seemed  to  me  wise  that  no  new  questions 
should  be  raised  so  long  as  that  condition  of 
affairs  existed.  Therefore  the  past  four 
years,  so  far  as  I  could  control  events,  have 
been  consumed  in  the  effort  to  restore  har- 
mony, public  credit,  commerce,  and  all  the 
arts  of  peace  and  progress.  It  is  my  firm 
conviction  that  the  civilized  world  is  tending 
toward  republicanism,  or  government  by  the 
people  through  their  chosen  representatives, 

67 


inaugural 


and  that  our  own  great  Republic  is  destined 
to  be  the  guiding  star  to  all  others. 

Under  our  Republic  we  support  an  army 
less  than  that  of  any  European  power  of  any 
standing  and  a  navy  less  than  that  of  either  of 
at  least  five  of  them.  There  could  be  no 
extension  of  territory  on  the  continent  which 
would  call  for  an  increase  of  this  force,  but 
rather  might  such  extension  enable  us  to 
diminish  it. 

The  theory  of  government  changes  with  gen- 
eral progress.  Now  that  the  telegraph  is  made 
available  for  communicating  thought,  together 
with  rapid  transit  by  steam,  all  parts  of  a  con- 
tinent are  made  contiguous  for  all  purposes  of 
government,  and  communication  between  the 
extreme  limits  of  the  country  made  easier  than 
it  was  throughout  the  old  thirteen  States  at 
the  beginning  of  our  national  existence. 

The  effects  of  the  late  civil  strife  have  been 
to  free  the  slave  and  make  him  a  citizen.  Yet 
he  is  not  possessed  of  the  civil  rights  which 
citizenship  should  carry  with  'it.  This  is 
wrong,  and  should  be  corrected.  To  this 
correction  I  stand  committed,  so  far  as  Exec- 
utive influence  can  avail. 

Social  equality  is  not  a  subject  to  be  legislated 
upon,  nor  shall  I  ask  that  anything  be  done  to 
advance  the  social  status  of  the  colored  man, 
except  to  give  him  a  fair  chance  to  develop 
what  there  is  good  in  him,  give  him  access  to 
the  schools,  and  when  he  travels  let  him  feel 

68 


assured  that  his  conduct  will  regulate  the  treat- 
ment and  fare  he  will  receive. 

The  States  lately  at  war  with  the  General 
Government  are  now  happily  rehabilitated,  and 
no  Executive  control  is  exercised  in  any  one 
of  them  that  would  not  be  exercised  in  any 
other  State  under  like  circumstances. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  past  Administration 
the  proposition  came  up  for  the  admission  of 
Santo  Domingo  as  a  Territory  of  the  Union. 
It  was  not  a  question  of  my  seeking,  but  was 
a  proposition  from  the  people  of  Santo  Do- 
mingo, and  which  I  entertained.  I  believe 
now,  as  I  did  then,  that  it  was  for  the  best 
interest  of  this  country,  for  the  people  of 
Santo  Domingo,  and  all  concerned  that  the 
proposition  should  be  received  favorably.  It 
was,  however,  rejected  constitutionally,  and 
therefore  the  subject  was  never  brought  up 
again  by  me. 

In  future,  while  I  hold  my  present  office, 
the  subject  of  acquisition  of  territory  must 
have  the  support  of  the  people  before  I  will 
recommend  any  proposition  looking  to  such 
acquisition.  I  say  here,  however,  that  I  do 
not  share  in  the  apprehension  held  by  many  as 
to  the  danger  of  governments  becoming  weak- 
ened and  destroyed  by  reason  of  their  exten- 
sion of  territory.  Commerce,  education,  and 
rapid  transit  of  thought  and  matter  by  tele- 
graph and  steam  have  changed  all  this. 
Rather  do  I  believe  that  our  Great  Maker  is 

69 


preparing  the  world,  in  His  own  good  time, 
to  become  one  nation,  speaking  one  language, 
and  when  armies  and  navies  will  be  no  longer 
required. 

My  efforts  in  the  future  will  be  directed  to 
the  restoration  of  good  feeling  between  the 
different  sections  of  our  common  country;  to 
the  restoration  of  our  currency  to  a  fixed  value 
as  compared  with  the  world's  standard  of 
values — gold — and,  if  possible,  to  a  par  with 
it;  to  the  construction  of  cheap  routes  of  tran- 
sit throughout  the  land,  to  the  end  that  the 
products  of  all  may  find  a  market  and  leave  a 
living  remuneration  to  the  producer;  to  the 
maintenance  of  friendly  relations  with  all  our 
neighbors  and  with  distant  nations;  to  the 
re-establishment  of  our  commerce  and  share 
in  the  carrying  trade  upon  the  ocean;  to  the 
encouragement  of  such  manufacturing  indus- 
tries as  can  be  economically  pursued  in  this 
country,  to  the  end  that  the  exports  of  home 
products  and  industries  may  pay  for  our  im- 
ports— the  only  sure  method  of  returning  to 
and  permanently  maintaining  a  specie  basis; 
to  the  elevation  of  labor;  and,  by  a  humane 
course,  to  bring  the  aborigines  of  the  country 
under  the  benign  influences  of  education  and 
civilization.  It  is  either  this  or  war  of  exter- 
mination. Wars  of  extermination,  engaged  in 
by  people  pursuing  commerce  and  all  indus- 
trial pursuits,  are  expensive  even  against  the 
weakest  people,  and  are  demoralizing  and 

70 


.  43rant 


wicked.  Our  superiority  of  strength  and 
advantages  of  civilization  should  make  us 
lenient  toward  the  Indian.  The  wrong  in- 
flicted upon  him  should  be  taken  into  account 
and  the  balance  placed  to  his  credit.  The 
moral  view  of  the  question  should  be  consid- 
ered and  the  question  asked,  Can  not  the 
Indian  be  made  a  useful  and  productive  mem- 
ber of  society  by  proper  teaching  and  treat- 
ment? If  the  effort  is  made  in  good  faith,  we 
will  stand  better  before  the  civilized  nations  of 
the  earth  and  in  our  own  consciences  for  having 
made  it. 

All  these  things  are  not  to  be  accomplished 
by  one  individual,  but  they  will  receive  my 
support  and  such  recommendations  to  Con- 
gress as  will,  in  my  judgment,  best  serve  to 
carry  them  into  effect.  I  beg  your  support 
and  encouragement. 

It  has  been,  and  is,  my  earnest  desire  to 
correct  abuses  that  have  grown  up  in  the  civil 
service  of  the  country.  To  secure  this  refor- 
mation rules  regulating  methods  of  appoint- 
ment and  promotions  were  established  and 
have  been  tried.  My  efforts  for  such  refor- 
mation shall  be  continued  to  the  best  of  my 
judgment.  The  spirit  of  the  rules  adopted 
will  be  maintained. 

I  acknowledge  before  this  assemblage,  repre- 
senting, as  it  does,  every  section  of  our  country, 
the  obligation  I  am  under  to  my  countrymen 
for  the  great  honor  they  have  conferred  on  me 


by  returning  me  to  the  highest  office  within 
their  gift,  and  the  future  obligation  resting  on 
me  to  render  to  them  the  best  services  within 
my  power.  This  I  promise,  looking  forward 
with  the  greatest  anxiety  to  the  day  when  I 
shall  be  released  from  responsibilities  that  at 
times  are  almost  overwhelming,  and  from 
which  I  have  scarcely  had  a  respite  since  the 
eventful  tiring  upon  Fort  Sumter,  in  April, 
1 86 1,  to  the  present  day.  My  services  were 
then  tendered  and  accepted  under  the  first  call 
for  troops  growing  out  of  that  event. 

I  did  not  ask  for  place  or  position,  and  was 
entirely  without  influence  or  the  acquaintance 
of  persons  of  influence,  but  was  resolved  to 
perform  my  part  in  a  struggle  threatening  the 
very  existence  of  the  nation.  I  performed  a 
conscientious  duty,  without  asking  promotion 
or  command,  and  without  a  revengeful  feeling 
toward  any  section  or  individual. 

Notwithstanding  this,  throughout  the  war, 
and  from  my  candidacy  for  my  present  office 
in  1868  to  the  close  of  the  last  Presidential 
campaign,  I  have  been  the  subject  of  abuse 
and  slander  scarcely  ever  equaled  in  political 
history,  which  to-day  I  feel  that  I  can  afford 
to  disregard  in  view  of  your  verdict,  which  I 
gratefully  accept  as  my  vindication. 

March  4,  1873. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:  We  have  as- 
sembled to  repeat  the  public  ceremonial, 
begun  by  Washington,  observed  by  all 
my  predecessors,  and  now  a  time-honored  cus- 
tom, which  marks  the  commencement  of  a  new 
term  of  the  Presidential  office.  Called  to  the 
duties  of  this  great  trust,  I  proceed,  in  com- 
pliance with  usage,  to  announce  some  of  the 
leading  principles,  on  the  subjects  that  now 
chiefly  engage  the  public  attention,  by  which 
it  is  my  desire  to  be  guided  in  the  discharge 
of  those  duties.  I  shall  not  undertake  to  lay 
down  irrevocably  principles  or  measures  of 
administration,  but  rather  to  speak  of  the 
motives  which  should  animate  us,  and  to  sug- 
gest certain  important  ends  to  be  attained  in 
accordance  with  our  institutions  and  essential 
to  the  welfare  of  our  country. 

At  the  outset  of  the  discussions  which  pre- 
ceded the  recent  Presidential  election  it  seemed 
to  me  fitting  that  I  should  fully  make  known 
my  sentiments  in  regard  to  several  of  the  im- 
portant questions  which  then  appeared  to 
demand  the  consideration  of  the  country. 
Following  the  example,  and  in  part  adopting 
the  language,  of  one  of  my  predecessors,  I 

73 


inaugural 


wish  now,  when  every  motive  for  misrepresen- 
tation has  passed  away,  to  repeat  what  was 
said  before  the  election,  trusting  that  my  coun- 
trymen will  candidly  weigh  and  understand  it, 
and  that  they  will  feel  assured  that  the  senti- 
ments declared  in  accepting  the  nomination 
for  the  Presidency  will  be  the  standard  of  my 
conduct  in  the  path  before  me,  charged,  as  I 
now  am,  with  the  grave  and  difficult  task  of 
carrying  them  out  in  the  practical  administra- 
tion of  the  Government  so  far  as  depends, 
under  the  Constitution  and  laws,  on  the  Chief 
Executive  of  the  nation. 

The  permanent  pacification  of  the  country 
upon  such  principles  and  by  such  measures  as 
will  secure  the  complete  protection  of  all  its 
citizens  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  all  their  con- 
stitutional rights  is  now  the  one  subject  in  our 
public  affairs  which  all  thoughtful  and  patri- 
otic citizens  regard  as  of  supreme  importance. 

Many  of  the  calamitous  effects  of  the  tre- 
mendous revolution  which  has  passed  over  the 
Southern  States  still  remain.  The  immeasur- 
able benefits  which  will  surely  follow,  sooner 
or  later,  the  hearty  and  generous  acceptance 
of  the  legitimate  results  of  that  revolution 
have  not  yet  been  realized.  Difficult  and  em- 
barrassing questions  meet  us  at  the  threshold 
of  this  subject.  The  people  of  those  States 
are  still  impoverished,  and  the  inestimable 
blessing  of  wise,  honest,  and  peaceful  local 
self-government  is  not  fully  enjoyed.  What- 

74 


ever  difference  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  the 
cause  of  this  condition  of  things,  the  fact  is 
clear  that  in  the  progress  of  events  the  time 
has  come  when  such  government  is  the  impera- 
tive necessity  required  by  all  the  varied  inter- 
ests, public  and  private,  of  those  States.  But 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  only  a  local  gov- 
ernment which  recognizes  and  maintains  invio- 
late the  rights  of  all  is  a  true  self-government. 

With  respect  to  the  two  distinct  races  whose 
peculiar  relations  to  each  other  have  brought 
upon  us  the  deplorable  complications  and  per- 
plexities which  exist  in  those  States,  it  must 
be  a  government  which  guards  the  interests  of 
both  races  carefully  and  equally.  It  must  be 
a  government  which  submits  loyally  and  heart- 
ily to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws — the  laws 
of  the  nation  and  the  laws  of  the  States  them- 
selves— accepting  and  obeying  faithfully  the 
whole  Constitution  as  it  is. 

Resting  upon  this  sure  and  substantial  foun- 
dation, the  superstructure  of  beneficent  local 
governments  can  be  built  up,  and  not  other- 
wise. In  furtherance  of  such  obedience  to  the 
letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  and 
in  behalf  of  all  that  its  attainment  implies,  all 
so-called  party  interests  lose  their  apparent 
importance,  and  party  lines  may  well  be  per- 
mitted to  fade  into  insignificance.  The  ques- 
tion we  have  to  consider  for  the  immediate 
welfare  of  those  States  of  the  Union  is  the 
question  of  government  or  no  government;  of 

75 


3Pnaugural 


social  order  and  all  the  peaceful  industries  and 
the  happiness  that  belong  to  it,  or  a  return  to 
barbarism.  It  is  a  question  in  which  every 
citizen  of  the  nation  is  deeply  interested,  and 
with  respect  to  which  we  ought  not  to  be,  in  a 
partisan  sense,  either  Republicans  or  Demo- 
crats, but  fellow-citizens  and  fellow-men,  to 
whom  the  interests  of  a  common  country  and 
a  common  humanity  are  dear. 

The  sweeping  revolution  of  the  entire  labor 
system  of  a  large  portion  of  our  country  and 
the  advance  of  four  million  people  from  a  con- 
dition of  servitude  to  that  of  citizenship,  upon 
an  equal  footing  with  their  former  masters, 
could  not  occur  without  presenting  problems 
of  the  gravest  moment,  to  be  dealt  with  by 
the  emancipated  race,  by  their  former  masters, 
and  by  the  General  Government,  the  author  of 
the  act  of  emancipation.  That  it  was  a  wise, 
just,  and  providential  act,  fraught  with  good 
for  all  concerned,  is  now  generally  conceded 
throughout  the  country.  That  a  moral  obli- 
gation rests  upon  the  National  Government  to 
employ  its  constitutional  power  and  influence 
to  establish  the  rights  of  the  people  it  has 
emancipated,  and  to  protect  them  in  the  en- 
joyment of  those  rights  when  they  are  infringed 
or  assailed,  is  also  generally  admitted. 

The  evils  which  afflict  the  Southern  States 
can  only  be  removed  or  remedied  by  the  united 
and  harmonious  efforts  of  both  races,  actuated 
by  motives  of  mutual  sympathy  and  regard; 

76 


ftutfterforti  2& 


and  while  in  duty  bound  and  fully  determined 
to  protect  the  rights  of  all  by  every  constitu- 
tional means  at  the  disposal  of  my  Adminis- 
tration, I  am  sincerely  anxious  to  use  every 
legitimate  influence  in  favor  of  honest  and 
efficient  local  se//-government  as  the  true 
resource  of  those  States  for  the  promotion  of 
the  contentment  and  prosperity  of  their  citi- 
zens. In  the  effort  I  shall  make  to  accomplish 
this  purpose  I  ask  the  cordial  co-operation  of 
all  who  cherish  an  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  country,  trusting  that  party  ties  and  the 
prejudice  of  race  will  be  freely  surrendered  in 
behalf  of  the  great  purpose  to  be  accomplished. 
In  the  important  work  of  restoring  the  South 
it  is  not  the  political  situation  alone  that  merits 
attention.  The  material  development  of  that 
section  of  the  country  has  been  arrested  by 
the  social  and  political  revolution  through 
which  it  has  passed,  and  now  needs  and  de- 
serves the  considerate  care  of  the  National 
Government  within  the  just  limits  prescribed 
by  the  Constitution  and  wise  public  economy. 
But  at  the  basis  of  all  prosperity,  for  that  as 
well  as  for  every  other  part  of  the  country,  lies 
the  improvement  of  the  intellectual  and  moral 
condition  of  the  people.  Universal  suffrage 
should  rest  upon  universal  education.  To  this 
end,  liberal  and  permanent  provision  should  be 
made  for  the  support  of  free  schools  by  the  State 
governments,  and,  if  need  be,  supplemented 
by  legitimate  aid  from  national  authority. 

77 


inaugural 


Let  me  assure  my  countrymen  of  the  South- 
ern States  that  it  is  my  earnest  desire  to  regard 
and  promote  their  truest  interests — the  inter- 
ests of  the  white  and  of  the  colored  people 
both  and  equally — and  to  put  forth  my  best 
efforts  in  behalf  of  a  civil  policy  which  will 
forever  wipe  out  in  our  political  affairs  the 
color  line  and  the  distinction  between  North 
and  South,  to  the  end  that  we  may  have  not 
merely  a  united  North  or  a  united  South,  but 
a  united  country. 

I  ask  the  attention  of  the  public  to  the  para- 
mount necessity  of  reform  in  our  civil  service 
— a  reform  not  merely  as  to  certain  abuses  and 
practices  of  so-called  official  patronage  which 
have  come  to  have  the  sanction  of  usage  in 
the  several  Departments  of  our  Government, 
but  a  change  in  the  system  of  appointment 
itself;  a  reform  that  shall  be  thorough,  radi- 
cal, and  complete;  a  return  to  the  principles 
and  practices  of  the  founders  of  the  Govern- 
ment. They  neither  expected  nor  desired 
from  public  officers  any  partisan  service. 
They  meant  that  public  officers  should  owe 
their  whole  service  to  the  Government  and  to 
the  people.  They  meant  that  the  officer 
should  be  secure  in  his  tenure  as  long  as  his 
personal  character  remained  untarnished  and 
the  performance  of  his  duties  satisfactory. 
They  held  that  appointments  to  office  were 
not  to  be  made  nor  expected  merely  as  rewards 
for  partisan  services,  nor  merely  on  the  nomi- 

78 


nation  of  members  of  Congress,  as  being  en- 
titled in  any  respect  to  the  control  of  such 
appointments. 

The  fact  that  the  great  political  parties  of 
the  country,  in  declaring  their  principles  prior 
to  the  election,  gave  a  prominent  place  to  the 
subject  of  reform  of  our  civil  service,  recog- 
nizing and  strongly  urging  its  necessity,  in 
terms  almost  identical  in  their  specific  import 
with  those  I  have  here  employed,  must  be 
accepted  as  a  conclusive  argument  in  behalf 
of  these  measures.  It  must  be  regarded  as 
the  expression  of  the  united  voice  and  will  of 
the  whole  country  upon  this  subject,  and  both 
political  parties  are  virtually  pledged  to  give  it 
their  unreserved  support. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  of  neces- 
sity owes  his  election  to  office  to  the  suffrage 
and  zealous  labors  of  a  political  party,  the 
members  of  which  cherish  with  ardor  and 
regard  as  of  essential  importance  the  prin- 
ciples of  their  party  organization;  but  he 
should  strive  to  be  always  mindful  of  the  fact 
that  he  serves  his  party  best  who  serves  the 
country  best. 

In  furtherance  of  the  reform  we  seek,  and 
in  other  important  respects  a  change  of  great 
importance,  I  recommend  an  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  prescribing  a  term  of  six 
years  for  the  Presidential  office  and  forbidding 
a  re-election. 

With  respect  to  the  financial  condition  of 

79 


5Fnaugural 


the  country,  I  shall  not  attempt  an  extended 
history  of  the  embarrassment  and  prostration 
which  we  have  suffered  during  the  past  three 
years.  The  depression  in  all  our  varied  com- 
mercial and  manufacturing  interests  through- 
out the  country,  which  began  in  September, 
1873,  still  continues.  It  is  very  gratifying, 
however,  to  be  able  to  say  that  there  are  indi- 
cations all  around  us  of  a  coming  change  to 
prosperous  times. 

Upon  the  currency  question,  intimately  con- 
nected, as  it  is,  with  this  topic,  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  repeat  here  the  statement  made  in 
my  letter  of  acceptance,  that  in  my  judgment 
the  feeling  of  uncertainty  inseparable  from  an 
irredeemable  paper  currency,  with  its  fluctua- 
tion of  values,  is  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles 
to  a  return  to  prosperous  times.  The  only 
safe  paper  currency  is  one  which  rests  upon  a 
coin  basis  and  is  at  all  times  and  promptly 
convertible  into  coin. 

I  adhere  to  the  views  heretofore  expressed 
by  me  in  favor  of  Congressional  legislation  in 
behalf  of  an  early  resumption  of  specie  pay- 
ments, and  I  am  satisfied  not  only  that  this  is 
wise,  but  that  the  interests,  as  well  as  the 
public  sentiment,  of  the  country  imperatively 
demand  it. 

Passing  from  these  remarks  upon  the  con- 
dition of  our  own  country  to  consider  our  rela- 
tions with  other  lands,  we  are  reminded  by  the 
international  complications  abroad,  threatening 

So 


ftutfjerforfc  2B>. 


the  peace  of  Europe,  that  our  traditional  rule 
of  noninterference  in  the  affairs  of  foreign 
nations  has  proved  of  great  value  in  past  times 
and  ought  to  be  strictly  observed. 

The  policy  inaugurated  by  my  honored  pre- 
decessor, President  Grant,  of  submitting  to 
arbitration  grave  questions  in  dispute  between 
ourselves  and  foreign  powers  points  to  a  new, 
and  incomparably  the  best,  instrumentality  for 
the  preservation  of  peace,  and  will,  as  I  believe, 
become  a  beneficent  example  of  the  course  to 
be  pursued  in  similar  emergencies  by  other 
nations. 

If,  unhappily,  questions  of  difference  should 
at  any  time  during  the  period  of  my  Adminis- 
tration arise  between  the  United  States  and 
any  foreign  government,  it  will  certainly  be 
my  disposition  and  my  hope  to  aid  in  their 
settlement  in  the  same  peaceful  and  honorable 
way,  thus  securing  to  our  country  the  great 
blessings  of  peace  and  mutual  good  offices 
with  all  the  nations  of  the  world. 

Fellow-citizens,  we  have  reached  the  close 
of  a  political  contest  marked  by  the  excitement 
which  usually  attends  the  contests  between  great 
political  parties  whose  members  espouse  and 
advocate  with  earnest  faith  their  respective 
creeds.  The  circumstances  were,  perhaps,  in 
no  respect  extraordinary  save  in  the  closeness 
and  the  consequent  uncertainty  of  the  result. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try it  has  been  deemed  best,  in  view  of  the 

81 


peculiar  circumstances  of  the  case,  that  the 
objections  and  questions  in  dispute  with  refer- 
ence to  the  counting  of  the  electoral  votes 
should  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  a  tribunal 
appointed  for  this  purpose. 

That  tribunal — established  by  law  for  this 
sole  purpose;  its  members,  all  of  them  men 
of  long-established  reputation  for  integrity  and 
intelligence,  and,  with  the  exception  of  those 
who  are  also  members  of  the  supreme  judiciary, 
chosen  equally  from  both  political  parties; 
its  deliberations  enlightened  by  the  research 
and  the  arguments  of  able  counsel — was  en- 
titled to  the  fullest  confidence  of  the  American 
people.  Its  decisions  have  been  patiently 
waited  for,  and  accepted  as  legally  conclusive 
by  the  general  judgment  of  the  public.  For 
the  present,  opinion  will  widely  vary  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  several  conclusions  announced 
by  that  tribunal.  This  is  to  be  anticipated  in 
every  instance  where  matters  of  dispute  are 
made  the  subject  of  arbitration  under  the 
forms  of  law.  Human  judgment  is  never 
unerring,  and  is  rarely  regarded  as  otherwise 
than  wrong  by  the  unsuccessful  party  in  the 
contest. 

The  fact  that  two  great  political  parties 
have  in  this  way  settled  a  dispute  in  regard  to 
which  good  men  differ  as  to  the  facts  and  the 
law  no  less  than  as  to  the  proper  course  to  be 
pursued  in  solving  the  question  in  controversy 
is  an  occasion  for  general  rejoicing. 
82 


ftutyerforfc  25. 


Upon  one  point  there  is  entire  unanimity  in 
public  sentiment — that  conflicting  claims  to  the 
Presidency  must  be  amicably  and  peaceably 
adjusted,  and  that  when  so  adjusted  the  gen- 
eral acquiescence  of  the  nation  ought  surely  to 
follow. 

It  has  been  reserved  for  a  government  of 
the  people,  where  the  right  of  suffrage  is  uni- 
versal, to  give  to  the  world  the  first  example 
in  history  of  a  great  nation,  in  the  midst  of 
the  struggle  of  opposing  parties  for  power, 
hushing  its  party  tumults  to  yield  the  issue  of 
the  contest  to  adjustment  according  to  the 
forms  of  law. 

Looking  for  the  guidance  of  that  Divine 
Hand  by  which  the  destinies  of  nations  and 
individuals  are  shaped,  I  call  upon  you,  Sena- 
tors, Representatives,  judges,  fellow-citizens, 
here  and  everywhere,  to  unite  with  me  in  an 
earnest  effort  to  secure  to  our  country  the 
blessings,  not  only  of  material  prosperity,  but 
of  justice,  peace,  and  union — a  union  depend- 
ing not  upon  the  constraint  of  force,  but  upon 
the  loving  devotion  of  a  free  people;  "and 
that  all  things  may  be  so  ordered  and  settled 
upon  the  best  and  surest  foundations  that 
peace  and  happiness,  truth  and  justice,  religion 
and  piety,  may  be  established  among  us  for 
all  generations." 

March  5,  1877. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:  We  stand  to- 
day upon  an  eminence  which  overlooks 
a  hundred  years  of  national  life — a  cen- 
tury crowded  with  perils,  but  crowned  with 
the  triumphs  of  liberty  and  law.  Before  con- 
tinuing the  onward  march  let  us  pause  on  this 
height  for  a  moment  to  strengthen  our  faith 
and  renew  our  hope  by  a  glance  at  the  path- 
way along  which  our  people  have  traveled. 

It  is  now  three  days  more  than  a  hundred 
years  since  the  adoption  of  the  first  written 
constitution  of  the  United  States — the  Articles 
of  Confederation  and  Perpetual  Union.  The 
new  Republic  was  then  beset  with  danger  on 
every  hand.  It  had  not  conquered  a  place  in 
the  family  of  nations.  The  decisive  battle  of 
the  war  for  independence,  whose  centennial 
anniversary  will  soon  be  gratefully  celebrated 
at  Yorktown,  had  not  yet  been  fought.  The 
colonists  were  struggling  not  only  against  the 
armies  of  a  great  nation,  but  against  the  set- 
tled opinions  of  mankind;  for  the  world  did 
not  then  believe  that  the  supreme  authority  of 
government  could  be  safely  intrusted  to  the 
guardianship  of  the  people  themselves. 

We  cannot  overestimate  the  fervent  love  of 

85 


inaugural 


liberty,  the  intelligent  courage,  and  the  sum 
of  common  sense  with  which  our  fathers  made 
the  great  experiment  of  self-government. 
When  they  found,  after  a  short  trial,  that  the 
confederacy  of  States  was  too  weak  to  meet 
the  necessities  of  a  vigorous  and  expanding 
republic,  they  boldly  set  it  aside,  and  in  its 
stead  established  a  National  Union,  founded 
directly  upon  the  will  of  the  people,  endowed 
with  full  power  of  self-preservation  and  ample 
authority  for  the  accomplishment  of  its  great 
object. 

Under  this  Constitution  the  boundaries  of 
freedom  have  been  enlarged,  the  foundations 
of  order  and  peace  have  been  strengthened, 
and  the  growth  of  our  people  in  all  the  better 
elements  of  national  life  has  indicated  the  wis- 
dom of  the  founders  and  given  new  hope  to 
their  descendants.  Under  this  Constitution 
our  people  long  ago  made  themselves  safe 
against  danger  from  without  and  secured  for 
their  mariners  and  flag  equality  of  rights  on 
all  the  seas.  Under  this  Constitution  twenty- 
five  States  have  been  added  to  the  Union, 
with  constitutions  and  laws,  framed  and  en- 
forced by  their  own  citizens,  to  secure  the 
manifold  blessings  of  local  self-government. 

The  jurisdiction  of  this  Constitution  now 
covers  an  area  fifty  times  greater  than  that  of 
the  original  thirteen  States  and  a  population 
twenty  times  greater  than  that  of  1780. 

The  supreme  trial  of  the  Constitution  came 

86 


at  last  under  the  tremendous  pressure  of  civil 
war.  We  ourselves  are  witnesses  that  the 
Union  emerged  from  the  blood  and  fire  of  that 
conflict  purified  and  made  stronger  for  all  the 
beneficent  purposes  of  good  government. 

And  now,  at  the  close  of  this  first  century 
of  growth,  with  the  inspirations  of  its  history 
in  their  hearts,  our  people  have  lately  reviewed 
the  condition  of  the  nation,  passed  judgment 
upon  the  conduct  and  opinions  of  political 
parties,  and  have  registered  their  will  concern- 
ing the  future  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment. To  interpret  and  to  execute  that  will 
in  accordance  with  the  Constitution  is  the 
paramount  duty  of  the  Executive. 

Even  from  this  brief  review  it  is  manifest 
that  the  nation  is  resolutely  facing  to  the  front, 
resolved  to  employ  its  best  energies  in  devel- 
oping the  great  possibilities  of  the  future. 
Sacredly  preserving  whatever  has  been  gained 
to  liberty  and  good  government  during  the 
century,  our  people  are  determined  to  leave 
behind  them  all  those  bitter  controversies  con- 
cerning things  which  have  been  irrevocably 
settled,  and  the  further  discussion  of  which 
can  only  stir  up  strife  and  delay  the  onward 
march. 

The  supremacy  of  the  nation  and  its  laws 
should  be  no  longer  a  subject  of  debate.  That 
discussion,  which  for  half  a  century  threatened 
the  existence  of  the  Union,  was  closed  at  last 
in  the  high  court  of  war  by  a  decree  from 

87 


inaugural 


which  there  is  no  appeal — that  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof 
are  and  shall  continue  to  be  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land,  binding  alike  upon  the  States  and 
the  people.  This  decree  does  not  disturb  the 
autonomy  of  the  States  nor  interfere  with  any 
of  their  necessary  rights  of  local  self-govern- 
ment, but  it  does  fix  and  establish  the  perma- 
nent supremacy  of  the  Union. 

The  will  of  the  nation,  speaking  with  the 
voice  of  battle  and  through  the  amended  Con- 
stitution, has  fulfilled  the  great  promise  of 
1776  by  proclaiming  "liberty  throughout  the 
land  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof." 

The  elevation  of  the  negro  race  from  slavery 
to  the  full  rights  of  citizenship  is  the  most 
important  political  change  we  have  known 
since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
1787.  No  thoughtful  man  can  fail  to  appre- 
ciate its  beneficent  effect  upon  our  institutions 
and  people.  It  has  freed  us  from  the  per- 
petual danger  of  war  and  dissolution.  It  has 
added  immensely  to  the  moral  and  industrial 
forces  of  our  people.  It  has  liberated  the 
master  as  well  as  the  slave  from  a  relation 
which  wronged  and  enfeebled  both.  It  has 
surrendered  to  their  own  guardianship  the 
manhood  of  more  than  five  million  people, 
and  has  opened  to  each  one  of  them  a  career 
of  freedom  and  usefulness.  It  has  given  new 
inspiration  to  the  power  of  self-help  in  both 
races  by  making  labor  more  honorable  to  the 


one  and  more  necessary  to  the  other.  The 
influence  of  this  force  will  grow  greater  and 
bear  richer  fruit  with  the  coming  years. 

No  doubt  this  great  change  has  caused  seri- 
ous disturbance  to  our  Southern  communities. 
This  is  to  be  deplored,  though  it  was  perhaps 
unavoidable.  But  those  who  resisted  the 
change  should  remember  that  under  our  insti- 
tutions there  was  no  middle  ground  for  the 
negro  race  between  slavery  and  equal  citizen- 
ship. There  can  be  no  permanent  disfran- 
chised peasantry  in  the  United  States.  Free- 
dom can  never  yield  its  fulness  of  blessings  so 
long  as  the  law  or  its  administration  places  the 
smallest  obstacle  in  the  pathway  of  any  virtu- 
ous citizen. 

The  emancipated  race  has  already  made 
remarkable  progress.  With  unquestioning 
devotion  to  the  Union,  with  a  patience  and 
gentleness  not  born  of  fear,  they  have  "fol- 
lowed the  light  as  God  gave  them  to  see  the 
light."  They  are  rapidly  laying  the  material 
foundations  of  self-support,  widening  their 
circle  of  intelligence,  and  beginning  to  enjoy 
the  blessings  that  gather  around  the  homes  of 
the  industrious  poor.  They  deserve  the  gener- 
ous encouragement  of  all  good  men.  So  far 
as  my  authority  can  lawfully  extend,  they 
shall  enjoy  the  full  and  equal  protection  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws. 

The  free  enjoyment  of  equal  suffrage  is  still 
in  question,  and  a  frank  statement  of  the  issue 


inaugural 


may  aid  its  solution.  It  is  alleged  that  in 
many  communities  negro  citizens  are  practi- 
cally denied  the  freedom  of  the  ballot.  In  so 
far  as  the  truth  of  this  allegation  is  admitted, 
it  is  answered  that  in  many  places  honest  local 
government  is  impossible  if  the  mass  of  unedu- 
cated negroes  are  allowed  to  vote.  These  are 
grave  allegations.  So  far  as  the  latter  is  true, 
it  is  the  only  palliation  that  can  be  offered  for 
opposing  the  freedom  of  the  ballot.  Bad  local 
government  is  certainly  a  great  evil,  which 
ought  to  be  prevented;  but  to  violate  the  free- 
dom and  sanctities  of  the  suffrage  is  more  than 
an  evil.  It  is  a  crime  which,  if  persisted  in, 
will  destroy  the  Government  itself.  Suicide  is 
not  a  remedy.  If  in  other  lands  it  be  high 
treason  to  compass  the  death  of  the  king,  it 
shall  be  counted  no  less  a  crime  here  to  strangle 
our  sovereign  power  and  stifle  its  voice. 

It  has  been  said  that  unsettled  questions 
have  no  pity  for  the  repose  of  nations.  It 
should  be  said  with  the  utmost  emphasis  that 
this  question  of  the  suffrage  will  never  give 
repose  or  safety  to  the  States  or  to  the  nation 
until  each,  within  its  own  jurisdiction,  makes 
and  keeps  the  ballot  free  and  pure  by  the 
strong  sanctions  of  the  law. 

But  the  danger  which  arises  from  ignorance 
in  the  voter  cannot  be  denied.  It  covers  a 
field  far  wider  than  that  of  negro  suffrage  and 
the  present  condition  of  the  race.  It  is  a  dan- 
ger that  lurks  and  hides  in  the  sources  and 

90 


fountains  of  power  in  every  State.  We  have 
no  standard  by  which  to  measure  the  disaster 
that  may  be  brought  upon  us  by  ignorance  and 
vice  in  the  citizens  when  joined  to  corruption 
and  fraud  in  the  suffrage. 

The  voters  of  the  Union,  who  make  and 
unmake  constitutions,  and  upon  whose  will 
hang  the  destinies  of  our  governments,  can 
transmit  their  supreme  authority  to  no  succes- 
sors save  the  coming  generation  of  voters,  who 
are  the  sole  heirs  of  sovereign  power.  If  that 
generation  comes  to  its  inheritance  blinded  by 
ignorance  and  corrupted  by  vice,  the  fall  of 
the  Republic  will  be  certain  and  remediless. 

The  census  has  already  sounded  the  alarm 
in  the  appalling  figures  which  mark  how  dan- 
gerously high  the  tide  of  illiteracy  has  risen 
among  our  voters  and  their  children. 

To  the  South  this  question  is  of  supreme 
importance.  But  the  responsibility  for  the 
existence  of  slavery  did  not  rest  upon  the 
South  alone.  The  nation  itself  is  responsible 
for  the  extension  of  the  suffrage,  and  is  under 
special  obligations  to  aid  in  removing  the  illit- 
eracy which  it  has  added  to  the  voting  popula- 
tion. For  the  North  and  South  alike  there  is 
but  one  remedy.  All  the  constitutional  power 
of  the  nation  and  of  the  States  and  all  the 
volunteer  forces  of  the  people  should  be  sur- 
rendered to  meet  this  danger  by  the  savory 
influence  of  universal  education. 

It  is  the  high  privilege  and  sacred  duty  of 

91 


inaugural 


those  now  living  to  educate  their  successors 
and  fit  them,  by  intelligence  and  virtue,  for 
the  inheritance  which  awaits  them. 

In  this  beneficent  work  sections  and  races 
should  be  forgotten  and  partisanship  should  be 
unknown.  Let  our  people  find  a  new  meaning 
in  the  divine  oracle  which  declares  that  "a  little 
child  shall  lead  them,"  for  our  own  little  chil- 
dren will  soon  control  the  destinies  of  the 
Republic. 

My  countrymen,  we  do  not  now  differ  in 
our  judgment  concerning  the  controversies  of 
past  generations,  and  fifty  years  hence  our 
children  will  not  be  divided  in  their  opinions 
concerning  our  controversies.  They  will 
surely  bless  their  fathers  and  their  fathers' 
God  that  the  Union  was  preserved,  that  slav- 
ery was  overthrown,  and  that  both  races  were 
made  equal  before  the  law.  We  may  hasten 
or  we  may  retard,  but  we  cannot  prevent,  the 
final  reconciliation.  Is  it  not  possible  for  us 
now  to  make  a  truce  with  time  by  anticipating 
and  accepting  its  inevitable  verdict? 

Enterprises  of  the  highest  importance  to 
our  moral  and  material  well-being  unite  us  and 
offer  ample  employment  of  our  best  powers. 
Let  all  our  people,  leaving  behind  them  the 
battle-fields  of  dead  issues,  move  forward  and 
in  their  strength  of  liberty  and  the  restored 
Union  win  the  grander  victories  of  peace. 

The  prosperity  which  now  prevails  is  with- 
out parallel  in  our  history.  Fruitful  seasons 

92 


have  done  much  to  secure  it,  but  they  have 
not  done  all.  The  preservation  of  the  public 
credit  and  the  resumption  of  specie  payments, 
so  successfully  attained  by  the  Administration 
of  my  predecessors,  have  enabled  our  people  to 
secure  the  blessings  which  the  seasons  brought. 

By  the  experience  of  commercial  nations  in 
all  ages  it  has  been  found  that  gold  and  silver 
afford  the  only  safe  foundation  for  a  monetary 
system.  Confusion  has  recently  been  created 
by  variations  in  the  relative  value  of  the  two 
metals,  but  I  confidently  believe  that  arrange- 
ments can  be  made  between  the  leading  com- 
mercial nations  which  will  secure  the  general 
use  of  both  metals.  Congress  should  provide 
that  the  compulsory  coinage  of  silver  now 
required  by  law  may  not  disturb  our  monetary 
system  by  driving  either  metal  out  of  circula- 
tion. If  possible,  such  an  adjustment  should 
be  made  that  the  purchasing  power  of  every 
coined  dollar  will  be  exactly  equal  to  its  debt- 
paying  power  in  all  the  markets  of  the  world. 

The  chief  duty  of  the  National  Government 
in  connection  with  the  currency  of  the  country 
is  to  coin  money  and  declare  its  value.  Grave 
doubts  have  been  entertained  whether  Con- 
gress is  authorized  by  the  Constitution  to  make 
any  form  of  paper  money  legal  tender.  The 
present  issue  of  United  States  notes  has  been 
sustained  by  the  necessities  of  war;  but  such 
paper  should  depend  for  its  value  and  cur- 
rency upon  its  convenience  in  use  and  its 

93 


inaugural 


prompt  redemption  in  coin  at  the  will  of  the 
holder,  and  not  upon  its  compulsory  circula- 
tion. These  notes  are  not  money,  but  prom- 
ises to  pay  money.  If  the  holders  demand  it, 
the  promise  should  be  kept. 

The  refunding  of  the  national  debt  at  a 
lower  rate  of  interest  should  be  accomplished 
without  compelling  the  withdrawal  of  the 
national-bank  notes,  and  thus  disturbing  the 
business  of  the  country. 

I  venture  to  refer  to  the  position  I  have 
occupied  on  financial  questions  during  a  long 
service  in  Congress,  and  to  say  that  time  and 
experience  have  strengthened  the  opinions  I 
have  so  often  expressed  on  these  subjects. 

The  finances  of  the  Government  shall  suffer 
no  detriment  which  it  may  be  possible  for  my 
Administration  to  prevent. 

The  interests  of  agriculture  deserve  more 
attention  from  the  Government  than  they  have 
yet  received.  The  farms  of  the  United  States 
afford  homes  and  employment  for  more  than 
one-half  our  people,  and  furnish  much  the 
largest  part  of  all  our  exports.  As  the  Gov- 
ernment lights  our  coasts  for  the  protection  of 
mariners  and  the  benefit  of  commerce,  so  it 
should  give  to  the  tillers  of  the  soil  the  best 
lights  of  practical  science  and  experience. 

Our  manufactures  are  rapidly  making  us 
industrially  independent,  and  are  opening  to 
capital  and  labor  new  and  profitable  fields 
of  employment.  Their  steady  and  healthy 

94 


8U  <®arfielti 


growth  should  still  be  matured.  Our  facili- 
ties for  transportation  should  be  promoted  by 
the  continued  improvement  of  our  harbors 
and  great  interior  waterways  and  by  the  in- 
crease of  our  tonnage  on  the  ocean. 

The  development  of  the  world's  commerce 
has  led  to  an  urgent  demand  for  shortening 
the  great  sea  voyage  around  Cape  Horn  by 
constructing  ship  canals  or  railways  across  the 
isthmus  which  unites  the  continents.  Various 
plans  to  this  end  have  been  suggested  and 
will  need  consideration,  but  none  of  them  has 
been  sufficiently  matured  to  warrant  the  United 
States  in  extending  pecuniary  aid.  The  sub- 
ject, however,  is  one  which  will  immediately 
engage  the  attention  of  the  Government  with 
a  view  to  a  thorough  protection  to  American 
interests.  We  will  urge  no  narrow  policy  nor 
seek  peculiar  or  exclusive  privileges  in  any 
commercial  route;  but,  in  the  language  of  my 
predecessor,  I  believe  it  to  be  the  right  "and 
duty  of  the  United  States  to  assert  and  main- 
tain such  supervision  and  authority  over  any 
interoceanic  canal  across  the  isthmus  that 
connects  North  and  South  America  as  will 
protect  our  national  interest." 

The  Constitution  guarantees  absolute  reli- 
gious freedom.  Congress  is  prohibited  from 
making  any  law  respecting  an  establishment 
of  religion  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof.  The  Territories  of  the  United  States 
are  subject  to  the  direct  legislative  authority 

95 


inaugural 


of  Congress,  and  hence  the  General  Govern- 
ment is  responsible  for  any  violation  of  the 
Constitution  in  any  of  them.  It  is  therefore 
a  reproach  to  the  Government  that  in  the  most 
populous  of  the  Territories  the  constitutional 
guaranty  is  not  enjoyed  by  the  people  and  the 
authority  of  Congress  is  set  at  naught.  The 
Mormon  Church  not  only  offends  the  moral 
sense  of  manhood  by  sanctioning  polygamy, 
but  prevents  the  administration  of  justice 
through  ordinary  instrumentalities  of  law. 

In  my  judgment  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress, 
while  respecting  to  the  uttermost  the  consci- 
entious convictions  and  religious  scruples  of 
every  citizen,  to  prohibit  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion all  criminal  practices,  especially  of  that 
class  which  destroy  the  family  relations  and 
endanger  social  order.  Nor  can  any  ecclesi- 
astical organization  be  safely  permitted  to 
usurp  in  the  smallest  degree  the  functions  and 
powers  of  the  National  Government. 

The  civil  service  can  never  be  placed  on  a 
satisfactory  basis  until  it  is  regulated  by  law. 
For  the  good  of  the  service  itself,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the 
appointing  power  against  the  waste  of  time 
and  obstruction  to  the  public  business  caused 
by  the  inordinate  pressure  for  place,  and  for 
the  protection  of  incumbents  against  intrigue 
and  wrong,  I  shall  at  the  proper  time  ask  Con- 
gress to  fix  the  tenure  of  the  minor  offices  of 
the  several  Executive  Departments  and  pre- 

96 


scribe  the  grounds  upon  which  removals  shall 
be  made  during  the  terms  for  which  incumbents 
have  been  appointed. 

Finally,  acting  always  within  the  authority 
and  limitations  of  the  Constitution,  invading 
neither  the  rights  of  the  States  nor  the  re- 
served rights  of  the  people,  it  will  be  the 
purpose  of  my  Administration  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  the  nation  in  all  places  within  its 
jurisdiction;  to  enforce  obedience  to  all  the 
laws  of  the  Union  in  the  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple; to  demand  rigid  economy  in  all  the  ex- 
penditures of  the  Government,  and  to  require 
the  honest  and  faithful  service  of  all  executive 
officers,  remembering  that  the  offices  were 
created,  not  for  the  benefit  of  incumbents  or 
their  supporters,  but  for  the  service  of  the 
Government. 

And  now,  fellow-citizens,  I  am  about  to 
assume  the  great  trust  which  you  have  com- 
mitted to  my  hands.  I  appeal  to  you  for  that 
earnest  and  thoughtful  support  which  makes 
this  Government  in  fact,  as  it  is  in  law,  a 
government  of  the  people. 

I  shall  greatly  rely  upon  the  wisdom  and 
patriotism  of  Congress  and  of  those  who  may 
share  with  me  the  responsibilities  and  duties  of 
administration,  and,  above  all,  upon  our  efforts 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  this  great  people 
and  their  Government  I  reverently  invoke  the 
support  and  blessings  of  Almighty  God. 

March  4,  1881. 

97 


Chester  & 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FOR  the  fourth  time  in  the  history  of  the 
Republic  its  Chief  Magistrate  has  been 
removed  by  death.     All  hearts  are  filled 
with  grief  and  horror  at  the  hideous  crime 
which  has  darkened  our  land,  and  the  memory 
of    the   murdered    President,    his   protracted 
sufferings,  his  unyielding  fortitude,  the  exam- 
ple and  achievements  of  his  life,  and  the  pathos 
of  his  death  will  forever  illumine  the  pages  of 
our  history. 

For  the  fourth  time  the  officer  elected  by 
the  people  and  ordained  by  the  Constitution 
to  fill  a  vacancy  so  created  is  called  to  assume 
the  Executive  chair.  The  wisdom  of  our 
fathers,  foreseeing  even  the  most  dire  possi- 
bilities, made  sure  that  the  Government  should 
never  be  imperiled  because  of  the  uncertainty 
of  human  life.  Men  may  die,  but  the  fabrics 
of  our  free  institutions  remain  unshaken.  No 
higher  or  more  assuring  proof  could  exist  of 
the  strength  and  permanence  of  popular  gov- 
ernment than  the  fact  that  though  the  chosen 
of  the  people  be  struck  down,  his  constitu- 
tional successor  is  peacefully  installed  without 
shock  or  strain  except  the  sorrow  which 
mourns  the  bereavement.  All  the  noble 

99 


inaugural 


aspirations  of  my  lamented  predecessor  which 
found  expression  in  his  life,  the  measures 
devised  and  suggested  during  his  brief  Adminis- 
tration to  correct  abuses,  to  enforce  economy, 
to  advance  prosperity,  and  to  promote  the 
general  welfare,  to  insure  domestic  security 
and  maintain  friendly  and  honorable  relations 
with  the  nations  of  the  earth,  will  be  garnered 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people;  and  it  will  be  my 
earnest  endeavor  to  profit,  and  to  see  that  the 
nation  shall  profit,  by  his  example  and  experi- 
ence. 

Prosperity  blesses  our  country.  Our  fiscal 
policy  is  fixed  by  law,  is  well  grounded  and 
generally  approved.  No  threatening  issue 
mars  our  foreign  intercourse,  and  the  wisdom, 
integrity,  and  thrift  of  our  people  may  be 
trusted  to  continue  undisturbed  the  present 
assured  career  of  peace,  tranquillity,  and  wel- 
fare. The  gloom  and  anxiety  which  have 
enshrouded  the  country  must  make  repose 
especially  welcome  now.  No  demand  for 
speedy  legislation  has  been  heard;  no  ade- 
quate occasion  is  apparent  for  an  unusual 
session  of  Congress.  The  Constitution  de- 
fined the  functions  and  powers  of  the  execu- 
tive as  clearly  as  those  of  either  of  the  other 
two  departments  of  the  Government,  and  he 
must  answer  for  the  just  exercise  of  the  dis- 
cretion it  permits  and  the  performance  of  the 
duties  it  imposes.  Summoned  to  these  high 
duties  and  responsibilities  and  profoundly 

100 


conscious  of  their  magnitude  and  gravity,  I 
assume  the  trust  imposed  by  the  Constitution, 
relying  for  aid  on  divine  guidance  and  the 
virtue,  patriotism,  and  intelligence  of  the 
American  people. 
September  22,  1881. 


101 


dffrofeer  Cleveland 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:  In  the  presence 
of  this  vast  assemblage  of  my  country- 
men I  am  about  to  supplement  and  seal 
by  the  oath  which  I  shall  take  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  will  of  a  great  and  free  people.  In 
the  exercise  of  their  power  and  right  of  self- 
government  they  have  committed  to  one  of  their 
fellow-citizens  a  supreme  and  sacred  trust,  and 
he  here  consecrates  himself  to  their  service. 

This  impressive  ceremony  adds  little  to  the 
solemn  sense  of  responsibility  with  which  I 
contemplate  the  duty  I  owe  to  all  the  people 
of  the  land.  Nothing  can  relieve  me  from 
anxiety  lest  by  any  act  of  mine  their  interests 
may  suffer,  and  nothing  is  needed  to  strengthen 
my  resolution  to  engage  every  faculty  and 
effort  in  the  promotion  of  their  welfare. 

Amid  the  din  of  party  strife  the  people's 
choice  was  made,  but  its  attendant  circum- 
stances have  demonstrated  anew  the  strength 
and  safety  of  a  government  by  the  people. 
In  each  succeeding  year  it  more  clearly  appears 
that  our  democratic  principle  needs  no  apol- 
ogy, and  that  in  its  fearless  and  faithful  appli- 
cation is  to  be  found  the  surest  guaranty  of 
good  government. 

103 


inaugural 


But  the  best  results  in  the  operation  of  a 
government  wherein  every  citizen  has  a  share 
largely  depend  upon  a  proper  limitation  of 
purely  partisan  zeal  and  effort  and  a  correct 
appreciation  of  the  time  when  the  heat  of  the 
partisan  should  be  merged  in  the  patriotism  of 
the  citizen. 

To-day  the  executive  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  transferred  to  new  keeping.  But  this 
is  still  the  Government  of  all  the  people,  and 
it  should  be  none  the  less  an  object  of  their 
affectionate  solicitude.  At  this  hour  the  ani- 
mosities of  political  strife,  the  bitterness  of 
partisan  defeat,  and  the  exultation  of  partisan 
triumph  should  be  supplanted  by  an  ungrudg- 
ing acquiescence  in  the  popular  will,  and  a 
sober,  conscientious  concern  for  the  general 
weal.  Moreover,  if  from  this  hour  we  cheer- 
fully and  honestly  abandon  all  sectional  preju- 
dice and  distrust,  and  determine,  with  manly 
confidence  in  one  another,  to  work  out  har- 
moniously the  achievements  of  our  national 
destiny,  we  shall  deserve  to  realize  all  the 
benefits  which  our  happy  form  of  government 
can  bestow. 

On  this  auspicious  occasion  we  may  well 
renew  the  pledge  of  our  devotion  to  the  Con- 
stitution, which,  launched  by  the  founders  of 
the  Republic  and  consecrated  by  their  prayers 
and  patriotic  devotion,  has  for  almost  a  cen- 
tury borne  the  hopes  and  the  aspirations  of  a 
great  people  through  prosperity  and  peace 

104 


and  through  the  shock  of  foreign  conflicts  and 
the  perils  of  domestic  strife  and  vicissitudes. 

By  the  Father  of  his  Country  our  Constitu- 
tion was  commended  for  adoption  as  "the 
result  of  a  spirit  of  amity  and  mutual  conces- 
sion." In  that  same  spirit  it  should  be  ad- 
ministered, in  order  to  promote  the  lasting 
welfare  of  the  country  and  to  secure  the  full 
measure  of  its  priceless  benefits  to  us  and  to 
those  who  will  succeed  to  the  blessings  of  our 
national  life.  The  large  variety  of  diverse  and 
competing  interests  subject  to  Federal  control, 
persistently  seeking  the  recognition  of  their 
claims,  need  give  us  no  fear  that  "the  greatest 
good  to  the  greatest  number"  will  fail  to  be 
accomplished  if  in  the  halls  of  national  legis- 
lation that  spirit  of  amity  and  mutual  conces- 
sion shall  prevail  in  which  the  Constitution 
had  its  birth.  If  this  involves  the  surrender 
or  postponement  of  private  interests  and  the 
abandonment  of  local  advantages,  compensa- 
tion will  be  found  in  the  assurance  that  the 
common  interest  is  subserved  and  the  general 
welfare  advanced. 

In  the  discharge  of  my  official  duty  I  shall 
endeavor  to  be  guided  by  a  just  and  unstrained 
construction  of  the  Constitution,  a  careful 
observance  of  the  distinction  between  the 
powers  granted  to  the  Federal  Government 
and  those  reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the 
people,  and  by  a  cautious  appreciation  of  those 
functions  which  by  the  Constitution  and  laws 

105 


have  been  especially  assigned  to  the  executive 
branch  of  the  Government. 

But  he  who  takes  the  oath  to-day  to  pre- 
serve, protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  only  assumes  the  solemn 
obligation  which  every  patriotic  citizen — on 
the  farm,  in  the  workshop,  in  the  busy  marts 
of  trade,  and  everywhere — should  share  with 
him.  The  Constitution  which  prescribes  his 
oath,  my  countrymen,  is  yours;  the  Govern- 
ment you  have  chosen  him  to  administer  for  a 
time  is  yours;  the  suffrage  which  executes  the 
will  of  freemen  is  yours;  the  laws  and  the 
entire  scheme  of  our  civil  rule,  from  the  town 
meeting  to  the  State  capitals  and  the  national 
capital,  is  yours.  Your  every  voter,  as  surely 
as  your  Chief  Magistrate,  under  the  same  high 
sanction,  though  in  a  different  sphere,  exer- 
cises a  public  trust.  Nor  is  this  all.  Every 
citizen  owes  to  the  country  a  vigilant  watch  and 
close  scrutiny  of  its  public  servants  and  a  fair 
and  reasonable  estimate  of  their  fidelity  and 
usefulness.  Thus  is  the  people's  will  im- 
pressed upon  the  whole  framework  of  our  civil 
polity — municipal,  State,  and  Federal;  and 
this  is  the  price  of  our  liberty  and  the  inspira- 
tion of  our  faith  in  the  Republic. 

It  is  the  duty  of  those  serving  the  people  in 
public  place  to  closely  limit  public  expendi- 
tures to  the  actual  needs  of  the  Government 
economically  administered,  because  this  bounds 
the  right  of  the  Government  to  exact  tribute 

1 06 


<«5rotoer 


from  the  earnings  of  labor  or  the  property  of 
the  citizen,  and  because  public  extravagance 
begets  extravagance  among  the  people.  We 
should  never  be  ashamed  of  the  simplicity  and 
prudential  economies  which  are  best  suited  to 
the  operation  of  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment and  most  compatible  with  the  mission  of 
the  American  people.  Those  who  are  selected 
for  a  limited  time  to  manage  public  affairs  are 
still  of  the  people,  and  may  do  much  by  their 
example  to  encourage,  consistently  with  the 
dignity  of  their  official  functions,  that  plain  way 
of  life  which  among  their  fellow-citizens  aids 
integrity  and  promotes  thrift  and  prosperity. 
The  genius  of  our  institutions,  the  needs  of 
our  people  in  their  home  life,  and  the  attention 
which  is  demanded  for  the  settlement  and 
development  of  the  resources  of  our  vast  ter- 
ritory dictate  the  scrupulous  avoidance  of  any 
departure  from  that  foreign  policy  commended 
by  the  history,  the  traditions,  and  the  prosper- 
ity of  our  Republic.  It  is  the  policy  of  inde- 
pendence, favored  by  our  position  and  defended 
by  our  known  love  of  justice  and  by  our  power. 
It  is  the  policy  of  peace  suitable  to  our  inter- 
ests. It  is  the  policy  of  neutrality,  rejecting 
any  share  in  foreign  broils  and  ambitions  upon 
other  continents  and  repelling  their  intrusion 
here.  It  is  the  policy  of  Monroe  and  of  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson — "Peace,  commerce,  and 
honest  friendship  with  all  nations;  entangling 
alliance  with  none." 

107 


A  due  regard  for  the  interests  and  prosper- 
ity of  all  the  people  demands  that  our  finances 
shall  be  established  upon  such  a  sound  and 
sensible  basis  as  shall  secure  the  safety  and 
confidence  of  business  interests  and  make  the 
wage  of  labor  sure  and  steady,  and  that  our 
system  of  revenue  shall  be  so  adjusted  as  to 
relieve  the  people  of  unnecessary  taxation, 
having  a  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  capital 
invested  and  workingmen  employed  in  Ameri- 
can industries,  and  preventing  the  accumula- 
tion of  a  surplus  in  the  Treasury  to  tempt 
extravagance  and  waste. 

Care  for  the  property  of  the  nation  and  for 
the  needs  of  future  settlers  requires  that  the 
public  domain  should  be  protected  from  pur- 
loining schemes  and  unlawful  occupation. 

The  conscience  of  the  people  demands  that 
the  Indians  within  our  boundaries  shall  be 
fairly  and  honestly  treated  as  wards  of  the 
Government  and  their  education  and  civiliza- 
tion promoted  with  a  view  to  their  ultimate 
citizenship,  and  that  polygamy  in  the  Terri- 
tories, destructive  of  the  family  relation  and 
offensive  to  the  moral  sense  of  the  civilized 
world,  shall  be  repressed. 

The  laws  should  be  rigidly  enforced  which 
prohibit  the  immigration  of  a  servile  class  to 
compete  with  American  labor,  with  no  inten- 
tion of  acquiring  citizenship,  and  bringing  with 
them  and  retaining  habits  and  customs  repug- 
nant to  our  civilization. 

108 


Cletodanti 


The  people  demand  reform  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Government  and  the  application  of 
business  principles  to  public  affairs.  As  a 
means  to  this  end,  civil-service  reform  should 
be  in  good  faith  enforced.  Our  citizens  have 
the  right  to  protection  from  the  incompetency 
of  public  employees  who  hold  their  places 
solely  as  the  reward  of  partisan  service,  and 
from  the  corrupting  influence  of  those  who 
promise  and  the  vicious  methods  of  those  who 
expect  such  rewards;  and  those  who  worthily 
seek  public  employment  have  the  right  to  insist 
that  merit  and  competency  shall  be  recognized 
instead  of  party  subserviency  or  the  surrender 
of  honest  political  belief. 

In  the  administration  of  a  government 
pledged  to  do  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all 
men  there  should  be  no  pretext  for  anxiety 
touching  the  protection  of  the  freedmen  in 
their  rights  or  their  security  in  the  enjoyment 
of  their  privileges  under  the  Constitution  and 
its  amendments.  All  discussion  as  to  their 
fitness  for  the  place  accorded  to  them  as 
American  citizens  is  idle  and  unprofitable  ex- 
cept as  it  suggests  the  necessity  for  their 
improvement.  The  fact  that  they  are  citizens 
entitles  them  to  all  the  rights  due  to  that  rela- 
tion and  charges  them  with  all  its  duties,  obli- 
gations, and  responsibilities. 

These  topics  and  the  constant  and  ever- 
varying  wants  of  an  active  and  enterprising 
population  may  well  receive  the  attention  and 

109 


inaugural  &&&re#£e£ 


the  patriotic  endeavor  of  all  who  make  and 
execute  the  Federal  law.  Our  duties  are 
practical  and  call  for  industrious  application, 
an  intelligent  perception  of  the  claims  of  pub- 
lic office,  and,  above  all,  a  firm  determination, 
by  united  action,  to  secure  to  all  the  people  of 
the  land  the  full  benefits  of  the  best  form  of 
government  ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  And 
let  us  not  trust  to  human  effort  alone,  but 
humbly  acknowledging  the  power  and  good- 
ness of  Almighty  God,  who  presides  over  the 
destiny  of  nations,  and  who  has  at  all  times 
been  revealed  in  our  country's  history,  let  us 
invoke  His  aid  and  His  blessing  upon  our 
labors. 

March  4,  1885. 


no 


I3enjamfn 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


T7VELLOW-CITIZENS:  There  is  no  con- 

P^  stitutional  or  legal  requirement  that  the 
President  shall  take  the  oath  of  office  in 
the  presence  of  the  people,  but  there  is  so 
manifest  an  appropriateness  in  the  public  in- 
duction to  office  of  the  chief  executive  officer 
of  the  nation  that  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Government  the  people,  to  whose  service  the 
official  oath  consecrates  the  officer,  have  been 
called  to  witness  the  solemn  ceremonial.  The 
oath  taken  in  the  presence  of  the  people  be- 
comes a  mutual  covenant.  The  officer  cove- 
nants to  serve  the  whole  body  of  the  people  by 
a  faithful  execution  of  the  laws,  so  that  they 
may  be  the  unfailing  defense  and  security  of 
those  who  respect  and  observe  them,  and  that 
neither  wealth,  station,  nor  the  power  of  com- 
binations shall  be  able  to  evade  their  just 
penalties  or  to  wrest  them  from  a  beneficent 
public  purpose  to  serve  the  ends  of  cruelty  or 
selfishness. 

My  promise  is  spoken;  yours  unspoken,  but 
not  the  less  real  and  solemn.  The  people  of 
every  State  have  here  their  representatives. 
Surely  I  do  not  misinterpret  the  spirit  of  the 
occasion  when  I  assume  that  the  whole  body 

HI 


inaugural 


of  the  people  covenant  with  me  and  with  each 
other  to-day  to  support  and  defend  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  Union  of  the  States,  to  yield  wil- 
ling obedience  to  all  the  laws  and  each  to  every 
other  citizen  his  equal  civil  and  political  rights. 
Entering  thus  solemnly  into  covenant  with  each 
other,  we  may  reverently  invoke  and  confidently 
expect  the  favor  and  help  of  Almighty  God — 
that  He  will  give  to  me  wisdom,  strength,  and 
fidelity,  and  to  our  people  a  spirit  of  fraternity 
and  a  love  of  righteousness  and  peace. 

This  occasion  derives  peculiar  interest  from 
the  fact  that  the  Presidential  term  which  begins 
this  day  is  the  twenty-sixth  under  our  Consti- 
tution. The  first  inauguration  of  President 
Washington  took  place  in  New  York,  where 
Congress  was  then  sitting,  on  the  3Oth  day  of 
April,  1789,  having  been  deferred  by  reason 
of  delays  attending  the  organization  of  the 
Congress  and  the  canvass  of  the  electoral 
vote.  Our  people  have  already  worthily  ob- 
served the  centennials  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  of  the  battle  of  Yorktown,  and 
of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  will 
shortly  celebrate  in  New  York  the  institution 
of  the  second  great  department  of  our  consti- 
tutional scheme  of  government.  When  the 
centennial  of  the  institution  of  the  judicial 
department,  by  the  organization  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  shall  have  been  suitably  observed,  as  I 
trust  it  will  be,  our  nation  will  have  fully 
entered  its  second  century. 

112 


Benjamin  Darnsou 


I  will  not  attempt  to  note  the  marvelous  and 
in  great  part  happy  contrasts  between  our 
country  as  it  steps  over  the  threshold  into  its 
second  century  of  organized  existence  under 
the  Constitution  and  that  weak  but  wisely 
ordered  young  nation  that  looked  undauntedly 
down  the  first  century,  when  all  its  years 
stretched  out  before  it. 

Our  people  will  not  fail  at  this  time  to  recall 
the  incidents  which  accompanied  the  institution 
of  government  under  the  Constitution,  or  to 
find  inspiration  and  guidance  in  the  teachings 
and  example  of  Washington  and  his  great 
associates,  and  hope  and  courage  in  the  con- 
trast which  thirty-eight  populous  and  prosper- 
ous States  offer  to  the  thirteen  States,  weak  in 
everything  except  courage  and  the  love  of 
liberty,  that  then  fringed  our  Atlantic  sea- 
board. 

The  Territory  of  Dakota  has  now  a  popula- 
tion greater  than  any  of  the  original  States 
(except  Virginia)  and  greater  than  the  aggre- 
gate of  five  of  the  smaller  States  in  1790. 
The  center  of  population  when  our  national 
capital  was  located  was  east  of  Baltimore,  and 
it  was  argued  by  many  well-informed  persons 
that  it  would  move  eastward  rather  than  west- 
ward; yet  in  1880  it  was  found  to  be  near 
Cincinnati,  and  the  new  census  about  to  be 
taken  will  show  another  stride  to  the  west- 
ward. That  which  was  the  body  has  come  to 
be  only  the  rich  fringe  of  the  nation's  robe. 

"3 


inaugural 


But  our  growth  has  not  been  limited  to  terri- 
tory, population,  and  aggregate  wealth,  mar- 
velous as  it  has  been  in  each  of  those  directions. 
The  masses  of  our  people  are  better  fed, 
clothed,  and  housed  than  their  fathers  were. 
The  facilities  for  popular  education  have  been 
vastly  enlarged  and  more  generally  diffused. 

The  virtues  of  courage  and  patriotism  have 
given  recent  proof  of  their  continued  presence 
and  increasing  power  in  the  hearts  and  over 
the  lives  of  our  people.  The  influences  of 
religion  have  been  multiplied  and  strength- 
ened. The  sweet  offices  of  charity  have 
greatly  increased.  The  virtue  of  temperance 
is  held  in  higher  estimation.  We  have  not 
attained  an  ideal  condition.  Not  all  of  our 
people  are  happy  and  prosperous;  not  all  of 
them  are  virtuous  and  law-abiding.  But  on 
the  whole  the  opportunities  offered  to  the  in- 
dividual to  secure  the  comforts  of  life  are 
better  than  are  found  elsewhere  and  largely 
better  than  they  were  here  one  hundred  years 
ago. 

The  surrender  of  a  large  measure  of  sov- 
ereignty to  the  General  Government,  effected 
by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  was  not 
accomplished  until  the  suggestions  of  reason 
were  strongly  re-enforced  by  the  more  impera- 
tive voice  of  experience.  The  divergent  inter- 
ests of  peace  speedily  demanded  a  "more 
perfect  union."  The  merchant,  the  ship- 
master, and  the  manufacturer  discovered  and 

114 


Benjamin 


disclosed  to  our  statesmen  and  to  the  people 
that  commercial  emancipation  must  be  added 
to  the  political  freedom  which  had  been  so 
bravely  won.  The  commercial  policy  of  the 
mother  country  had  not  relaxed  any  of  its  hard 
and  oppressive  features.  To  hold  in  check 
the  development  of  our  commercial  marine,  to 
prevent  or  retard  the.  establishment  and  growth 
of  manufactures  in  the  States,  and  so  to  secure 
the  American  market  for  their  shops  and  the 
carrying  trade  for  their  ships,  was  the  policy 
of  European  statesmen,  and  was  pursued  with 
the  most  selfish  vigor. 

Petitions  poured  in  upon  Congress  urging 
the  imposition  of  discriminating  duties  that 
should  encourage  the  production  of  needed 
things  at  home.  The  patriotism  of  the  people, 
which  no  longer  found  a  field  of  exercise  in 
war,  was  energetically  directed  to  the  duty  of 
equipping  the  young  Republic  for  the  defense 
of  its  independence  by  making  its  people  self- 
dependent.  Societies  for  the  promotion  of 
home  manufactures  and  for  encouraging  the 
use  of  domestics  in  the  dress  of  the  people 
were  organized  in  many  of  the  States.  The 
revival  at  the  end  of  the  century  of  the  same 
patriotic  interest  in  the  preservation  and  devel- 
opment of  domestic  industries  and  the  defense 
of  our  working  people  against  injurious  foreign 
competition  is  an  incident  worthy  of  attention. 
It  is  not  a  departure  but  a  return  that  we  have 
witnessed.  The  protective  policy  had  then  its 

»5 


opponents.  The  argument  was  made,  as  now, 
that  its  benefits  inured  to  particular  classes  or 
sections. 

If  the  question  became  in  any  sense  or  at 
any  time  sectional,  it  was  only  because  slavery 
existed  in  some  of  the  States.  But  for  this 
there  was  no  reason  why  the  cotton-producing 
States  should  not  have  led  or  walked  abreast 
with  the  New  England  States  in  the  production 
of  cotton  fabrics.  There  was  this  reason  only 
why  the  States  that  divide  with  Pennsylvania 
the  mineral  treasures  of  the  great  southeastern 
and  central  mountain  ranges  should  have  been 
so  tardy  in  bringing  to  the  smelting  furnace 
and  to  the  mill  the  coal  and  iron  from  their 
near  opposing  hillsides.  Mill  fires  were 
lighted  at  the  funeral  pile  of  slavery.  The 
emancipation  proclamation  was  heard  in  the 
depths  of  the  earth  as  well  as  in  the  sky;  men 
were  made  free,  and  material  things  became 
our  better  servants. 

The  sectional  element  has  happily  been  elimi- 
nated from  the  tariff  discussion.  We  have  no 
longer  States  that  are  necessarily  only  plant- 
ing States.  None  are  excluded  from  achieving 
that  diversification  of  pursuits  among  the  peo- 
ple which  brings  wealth  and  contentment. 
The  cotton  plantation  will  not  be  less  valuable 
when  the  product  is  spun  in  the  country  town 
by  operatives  whose  necessities  call  for  diver- 
sified crops  and  create  a  home  demand  for 
garden  and  agricultural  products.  Every  new 

116 


23nt jamin 


mine,  furnace,  and  factory  is  an  extension  of 
the  productive  capacity  of  the  State  more  real 
and  valuable  than  added  territory. 

Shall  the  prejudices  and  paralysis  of  slavery 
continue  to  hang  upon  the  skirts  of  progress? 
How  long  will  those  who  rejoice  that  slavery 
no  longer  exists  cherish  or  tolerate  the  inca- 
pacities it  put  upon  their  communities?  I  look 
hopefully  to  the  continuance  of  our  protective 
system  and  to  the  consequent  development  of 
manufacturing  and  mining  enterprises  in  the 
States  hitherto  wholly  given  to  agriculture  as  a 
potent  influence  in  the  perfect  unification  of 
our  people.  The  men  who  have  invested  their 
capital  in  these  enterprises,  the  farmers  who 
have  felt  the  benefit  of  their  neighborhood,  and 
the  men  who  work  in  shop  or  field  will  not  fail 
to  find  and  to  defend  a  community  of  interest. 

Is  it  not  quite  possible  that  the  farmers  and 
the  promoters  of  the  great  mining  and  manu- 
facturing enterprises  which  have  recently  been 
established  in  the  South  may  yet  find  that  the 
free  ballot  of  the  workingman,  without  distinc- 
tion of  race,  is  needed  for  their  defense  as  well 
as  for  his  own?  I  do  not  doubt  that  if  those 
men  in  the  South  who  now  accept  the  tariff 
views  of  Clay  and  the  constitutional  expositions 
of  Webster  would  courageously  avow  and 
defend  their  real  convictions  they  would  not 
find  it  difficult,  by  friendly  instruction  and 
co-operation,  to  make  the  black  man  their 
efficient  and  safe  ally,  not  only  in  establishing 

117 


inaugural 


correct  principles  in  our  national  administra- 
tion, but  in  preserving  for  their  local  communi- 
ties the  benefits  of  social  order  and  economical 
and  honest  government.  At  least  until  the 
good  offices  of  kindness  and  education  have 
been  fairly  tried  the  contrary  conclusion  can- 
not be  plausibly  urged. 

I  have  altogether  rejected  the  suggestion  of 
a  special  Executive  policy  for  any  section  of 
our  country.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Executive 
to  administer  and  enforce  in  the  methods  and 
by  the  instrumentalities  pointed  out  and  pro- 
vided by  the  Constitution  all  the  laws  enacted 
by  Congress.  These  laws  are  general  and 
their  administration  should  be  uniform  and 
equal.  As  a  citizen  may  not  elect  what  laws 
he  will  obey,  neither  may  the  Executive  elect 
which  he  will  enforce.  The  duty  to  obey  and 
to  execute  embraces  the  Constitution  in  its 
entirety  and  the  whole  code  of  laws  enacted 
under  it.  The  evil  example  of  permitting 
individuals,  corporations,  or  communities  to 
nullify  the  laws  because  they  cross  some  selfish 
or  local  interest  or  prejudices  is  full  of  danger, 
not  only  to  the  nation  at  large,  but  much  more 
to  those  who  use  this  pernicious  expedient  to 
escape  their  just  obligations  or  to  obtain  an 
unjust  advantage  over  others.  They  will 
presently  themselves  be  compelled  to  appeal 
to  the  law  for  protection,  and  those  who  would 
use  the  law  as  a  defense  must  not  deny  that 
use  of  it  to  others. 

118 


Benjamin 


If  our  great  corporations  would  more  scrupu- 
lously observe  their  legal  limitations  and  duties, 
they  would  have  less  cause  to  complain  of  the 
unlawful  limitations  of  their  rights  or  of  vio- 
lent interference  with  their  operations.  The 
community  that  by  concert,  open  or  secret, 
among  its  citizens  denies  to  a  portion  of  its 
members  their  plain  rights  under  the  law  has 
severed  the  only  safe  bond  of  social  order  and 
prosperity.  The  evil  works  from  a  bad  cen- 
ter both  ways.  It  demoralizes  those  who  prac- 
tice it  and  destroys  the  faith  of  those  who 
suffer  by  it  in  the  efficiency  of  the  law  as  a 
safe  protector.  The  man  in  whose  breast  that 
faith  has  been  darkened  is  naturally  the  sub- 
ject of  dangerous  and  uncanny  suggestions. 
Those  who  use  unlawful  methods,  if  moved  by 
no  higher  motive  than  the  selfishness  that 
prompted  them,  may  well  stop  and  inquire 
what  is  to  be  the  end  of  this. 

An  unlawful  expedient  cannot  become  a  per- 
manent condition  of  government.  If  the  edu- 
cated and  influential  classes  in  a  community 
either  practice  or  connive  at  the  systematic 
violation  of  laws  that  seem  to  them  to  cross 
their  convenience,  what  can  they  expect  when 
the  lesson  that  convenience  or  a  supposed 
class  interest  is  a  sufficient  cause  for  lawless- 
ness has  been  well  learned  by  the  ignorant 
classes?  A  community  where  law  is  the  rule 
of  conduct  and  where  courts,  not  mobs, 
execute  its  penalties  is  the  only  attractive 

119 


inaugural 


field  for  business  investments  and  honest 
labor. 

Our  naturalization  laws  should  be  so  amended 
as  to  make  the  inquiry  into  the  character  and 
good  disposition  of  persons  applying  for  citizen- 
ship more  careful  and  searching.  Our  existing 
laws  have  been  in  their  administration  an  un- 
impressive and  often  an  unintelligible  form. 
We  accept  the  man  as  a  citizen  without  any 
knowledge  of  his  fitness,  and  he  assumes  the 
duties  of  citizenship  without  any  knowledge  as 
to  what  they  are.  The  privileges  of  American 
citizenship  are  so  great  and  its  duties  so  grave 
that  we  may  well  insist  upon  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  every  person  applying  for  citizenship 
and  a  good  knowledge  by  him  of  our  institu- 
tions. We  should  not  cease  to  be  hospitable 
to  immigration,  but  we  should  cease  to  be 
careless  as  to  the  character  of  it.  There  are 
men  of  all  races,  even  the  best,  whose  coming 
is  necessarily  a  burden  upon  our  public  reve- 
nues or  a  threat  to  social  order.  These  should 
be  identified  and  excluded. 

We  have  happily  maintained  a  policy  of 
avoiding  all  interference  with  European  affairs. 
We  have  been  only  interested  spectators  of 
their  contentions  in  diplomacy  and  in  war, 
ready  to  use  our  friendly  offices  to  promote 
peace,  but  never  obtruding  our  advice  and 
never  attempting  unfairly  to  coin  the  distresses 
of  other  powers  into  commercial  advantage  to 
ourselves.  We  have  a  just  right  to  expect 

120 


Benjamin  l)arri£on 


that  our  European  policy  will  be  the  American 
policy  of  European  courts. 

It  is  so  manifestly  incompatible  with  those 
precautions  for  our  peace  and  safety  which  all 
the  great  powers  habitually  observe  and  en- 
force in  matters  affecting  them  that  a  shorter 
waterway  between  our  eastern  and  western 
seaboards  should  be  dominated  by  any  Euro- 
pean government  that  we  may  confidently 
expect  that  such  a  purpose  will  not  be  enter- 
tained by  any  friendly  power. 

We  shall  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  use 
every  endeavor  to  maintain  and  enlarge  our 
friendly  relations  with  all  the  great  powers,  but 
they  will  not  expect  us  to  look  kindly  upon 
any  project  that  would  leave  us  subject  to  the 
dangers  of  a  hostile  observation  or  environ- 
ment. We  have  not  sought  to  dominate  or  to 
absorb  any  of  our  weaker  neighbors,  but  rather 
to  aid  and  encourage  them  to  establish  free 
and  stable  governments  resting  upon  the  con- 
sent of  their  own  people.  We  have  a  clear 
right  to  expect,  therefore,  that  no  European 
Government  will  seek  to  establish  colonial  de- 
pendencies upon  the  territory  of  these  indepen- 
dent American  States.  That  which  a  sense 
of  justice  restrains  us  from  seeking  they  may 
be  reasonably  expected  willingly  to  forego. 

It  must  not  be  assumed,  however,  that  our 
interests  are  so  exclusively  American  that  our 
entire  inattention  to  any  events  that  may 
transpire  elsewhere  can  be  taken  for  granted. 

121 


Our  citizens  domiciled  for  purposes  of  trade 
in  all  countries  and  in  many  of  the  islands  of 
the  sea  demand  and  will  have  our  adequate 
care  in  their  personal  and  commercial  rights. 
The  necessities  of  our  Navy  require  convenient 
coaling  stations  and  dock  and  harbor  privi- 
leges. These  and  other  trading  privileges  we 
will  feel  free  to  obtain  only  by  means  that  do 
not  in  any  degree  partake  of  coercion,  how- 
ever feeble  the  government  from  which  we 
ask  such  concessions.  But  having  fairly  ob- 
tained them  by  methods  and  for  purposes 
entirely  consistent  with  the  most  friendly  dis- 
position toward  all  other  powers,  our  consent 
will  be  necessary  to  any  modification  or  impair- 
ment of  the  concession. 

We  shall  neither  fail  to  respect  the  flag  of 
any  friendly  nation  or  the  just  rights  of  its 
citizens,  nor  to  exact  the  like  treatment  for 
our  own.  Calmness,  justice,  and  considera- 
tion should  characterize  our  diplomacy.  The 
offices  of  an  intelligent  diplomacy  or  of  friendly 
arbitration  in  proper  cases  should  be  adequate 
to  the  peaceful  adjustment  of  all  international 
difficulties.  By  such  methods  we  will  make 
our  contribution  to  the  world's  peace,  which 
no  nation  values  more  highly,  and  avoid  the 
opprobrium  which  must  fall  upon  the  nation 
that  ruthlessly  breaks  it. 

The  duty  devolved  by  law  upon  the  Presi- 
dent to  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  appoint  all  pub- 

122 


23f  njamin 


lie  officers  whose  appointment  is  not  otherwise 
provided  for  in  the  Constitution  or  by  act  of 
Congress,  has  become  very  burdensome,  and 
its  wise  and  efficient  discharge  full  of  difficulty. 
The  civil  list  is  so  large  that  a  personal  knowl- 
edge of  any  large  number  of  the  applicants  is 
impossible.  The  President  must  rely  upon 
the  representations  of  others,  and  these  are 
often  made  inconsiderately  and  without  any 
just  sense  of  responsibility.  I  have  a  right, 
I  think,  to  insist  that  those  who  volunteer  or 
are  invited  to  give  advice  as  to  appointments 
shall  exercise  consideration  and  fidelity.  A 
high  sense  of  duty  and  an  ambition  to  im- 
prove the  service  should  characterize  all  public 
officers. 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  the  conve- 
nience and  comfort  of  those  who  have  business 
with  our  public  offices  may  be  promoted  by  a 
thoughtful  and  obliging  officer,  and  I  shall 
expect  those  whom  I  may  appoint  to  justify 
their  selection  by  a  conspicuous  efficiency  in 
the  discharge  of  their  duties.  Honorable 
party  service  will  certainly  not  be  esteemed  by 
me  a  disqualification  for  public  office,  but  it 
will  in  no  case  be  allowed  to  serve  as  a  shield 
of  official  negligence,  incompetency,  or  delin- 
quency. It  is  entirely  creditable  to  seek  public 
office  by  proper  methods  and  with  proper 
motives,  and  all  applicants  will  be  treated  with 
consideration;  but  I  shall  need,  and  the  heads 
of  Departments  will  need,  time  for  inquiry  and 

123 


inaugural 


deliberation.  Persistent  importunity  will  not, 
therefore,  be  the  best  support  of  an  applica- 
tion for  office.  Heads  of  departments,  bureaus, 
and  all  other  public  officers  having  any  duty 
connected  therewith  will  be  expected  to  enforce 
the  civil- service  law  fully  and  without  evasion. 
Beyond  this  obvious  duty  I  hope  to  do  some- 
thing more  to  advance  the  reform  of  civil  ser- 
vice. The  ideal,  or  even  my  own  ideal,  I 
shall  probably  not  attain.  Retrospect  will  be 
a  safer  basis  of  judgment  than  promises.  We 
shall  not,  however,  I  am  sure,  be  able  to  put 
our  civil  service  upon  a  nonpartisan  basis  until 
we  have  secured  an  incumbency  that  fair- 
minded  men  of  the  opposition  will  approve  for 
impartiality  and  integrity.  As  the  number  of 
such  in  the  civil  list  is  increased  removals  from 
office  will  diminish. 

While  a  Treasury  surplus  is  not  the  greatest 
evil,  it  is  a  serious  evil.  Our  revenue  should 
be  ample  to  meet  the  ordinary  annual  demands 
upon  our  Treasury,  with  a  sufficient  margin 
for  those  extraordinary  but  scarcely  less  im- 
perative demands  which  arise  now  and  then. 
Expenditure  should  always  be  made  with  econ- 
omy and  only  upon  public  necessity.  Waste- 
fulness, profligacy,  or  favoritism  in  public 
expenditures  is  criminal.  But  there  is  noth- 
ing in  the  condition  of  our  country  or  of  our 
people  to  suggest  that  anything  presently 
necessary  to  the  public  prosperity,  security, 
or  honor  should  be  unduly  postponed. 

124 


Benjamin 


It  will  be  the  duty  of  Congress  wisely  to 
forecast  and  estimate  these  extraordinary 
demands,  and  having  added  them  to  our  ordi- 
nary expenditures,  to  so  adjust  our  revenue 
laws  that  no  considerable  annual  surplus  will 
remain.  We  will  fortunately  be  able  to  apply 
to  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt  any  small 
and  unforeseen  excess  of  revenue.  This  is 
better  than  to  reduce  our  income  below  our 
necessary  expenditures,  with  the  resulting 
choice  between  another  change  of  our  revenue 
laws  and  an  increase  of  the  public  debt.  It  is 
quite  possible,  I  am  sure,  to  effect  the  neces- 
sary reduction  in  our  revenues  without  break- 
ing down  our  protective  tariff  or  seriously 
injuring  any  domestic  industry. 

The  construction  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
modern  warships  and  of  their  necessary  arma- 
ment should  progress  as  rapidly  as  is  consistent 
with  care  and  perfection  in  plans  and  workman- 
ship. The  spirit,  courage,  and  skill  of  our 
naval  officers  and  seamen  have  many  times  in 
our  history  given  to  weak  ships  and  inefficient 
guns  a  rating  greatly  beyond  that  of  the  naval 
list.  That  they  will  again  do  so  upon  occasion 
I  do  not  doubt;  but  they  ought  not,  by  pre- 
meditation or  neglect,  to  be  left  to  the  risks 
and  exigencies  of  an  unequal  combat.  We 
should  encourage  the  establishment  of  Ameri- 
can steamship  lines.  The  exchanges  of  com- 
merce demand  stated,  reliable,  and  rapid  means 
of  communication,  and  until  these  are  pro- 

125 


vided  the  development  of  our  trade  with  the 
States  lying  south  of  us  is  impossible. 

Our  pension  laws  should  give  more  adequate 
and  discriminating  relief  to  the  Union  soldiers 
and  sailors  and  to  their  widows  and  orphans. 
Such  occasions  as  this  should  remind  us  that 
we  owe  everything  to  their  valor  and  sacrifice. 

It  is  a  subject  of  congratulation  that  there 
is  a  near  prospect  of  the  admission  into  the 
Union  of  the  Dakotas  and  Montana  and  Wash- 
ington Territories.  This  act  of  justice  has 
been  unreasonably  delayed  in  the  case  of  some 
of  them.  The  people  who  have  settled  these 
Territories  are  intelligent,  enterprising,  and 
patriotic,  and  the  accession  of  these  new 
States  will  add  strength  to  the  nation.  It  is 
due  to  the  settlers  in  the  Territories  who  have 
availed  themselves  of  the  invitations  of  our 
land  laws  to  make  homes  upon  the  public 
domain  that  their  titles  should  be  speedily 
adjusted  and  their  honest  entries  confirmed  by 
patent. 

It  is  very  gratifying  to  observe  the  general 
interest  now  being  manifested  in  the  reform  of 
our  election  laws.  Those  who  have  been  for 
years  calling  attention  to  the  pressing  necessity 
of  throwing  about  the  ballot  box  and  about  the 
elector  further  safeguards,  in  order  that  our 
elections  might  not  only  be  free  and  pure,  but 
might  clearly  appear  to  be  so,  will  welcome 
the  accession  of  any  who  did  not  so  soon  dis- 
cover the  need  of  reform.  The  National  Con- 


Benjamin 


gress  has  not  as  yet  taken  control  of  elections 
in  that  case  over  which  the  Constitution  gives 
it  jurisdiction,  but  has  accepted  and  adopted 
the  election  laws  of  the  several  States,  provided 
penalties  for  their  violation  and  a  method  of 
supervision.  Only  the  inefficiency  of  the 
State  laws  or  an  unfair  partisan  administration 
of  them  could  suggest  a  departure  from  this 
policy. 

It  was  clearly,  however,  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  that 
such  an  exigency  might  arise,  and  provision 
was  wisely  made  for  it.  The  freedom  of  the 
ballot  is  a  condition  of  our  national  life,  and 
no  power  vested  in  Congress  or  in  the  Execu- 
tive to  secure  or  perpetuate  it  should  remain 
unused  upon  occasion.  The  people  of  all  the 
Congressional  districts  have  an  equal  interest 
that  the  election  in  each  shall  truly  express  the 
views  and  wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  qualified 
electors  residing  within  it.  The  results  of 
such  elections  are  not  local,  and  the  insistence 
of  electors  residing  in  other  districts  that  they 
shall  be  pure  and  free  does  not  savor  at  all  of 
impertinence. 

If  in  any  of  the  States  the  public  security  is 
thought  to  be  threatened  by  ignorance  among 
the  electors,  the  obvious  remedy  is  education. 
The  sympathy  and  help  of  our  people  will  not 
be  withheld  from  any  community  struggling 
with  special  embarrassments  or  difficulties 
connected  with  the  suffrage  if  the  remedies 

127 


proposed  proceed  upon  lawful  lines  and  are 
promoted  by  just  and  honorable  methods. 
How  shall  those  who  practice  election  frauds 
recover  that  respect  for  the  sanctity  of  the 
ballot  which  is  the  first  condition  and  obliga- 
tion of  good  citizenship?  The  man  who  has 
come  to  regard  the  ballot  box  as  a  juggler's 
hat  has  renounced  his  allegiance. 

Let  us  exalt  patriotism  and  moderate  our 
party  contentions.  Let  those  who  would  die 
for  the  flag  on  the  field  of  battle  give  a  better 
proof  of  their  patriotism  and  a  higher  glory  to 
their  country  by  promoting  fraternity  and 
justice.  A  party  success  that  is  achieved  by 
unfair  methods  or  by  practices  that  partake  of 
revolution  is  hurtful  and  evanescent  even  from 
a  party  standpoint.  We  should  hold  our  dif- 
fering opinions  in  mutual  respect,  and,  having 
submitted  them  to  the  arbitrament  of  the 
ballot,  should  accept  an  adverse  judgment 
with  the  same  respect  that  we  would  have 
demanded  of  our  opponents  if  the  decision 
had  been  in  our  favor. 

No  other  people  have  a  government  more 
worthy  of  their  respect  and  love  or  a  land  so 
magnificent  in  extent,  so  pleasant  to  look 
upon,  and  so  full  of  generous  suggestion  to 
enterprise  and  labor.  God  has  placed  upon 
our  head  a  diadem  and  has  laid  at  our  feet 
power  and  wealth  beyond  definition  or  calcu- 
lation. But  we  must  not  forget  that  we  take 
these  gifts  upon  the  condition  that  justice  and 

128 


Benjamin  Darnsou 


mercy  shall  hold  the  reins  of  power  and  that 
the  upward  avenues  of  hope  shall  be  free  to  all 
the  people. 

I  do  not  mistrust  the  future.  Dangers 
have  been  in  frequent  ambush  along  our  path, 
but  we  have  uncovered  and  vanquished  them 
all.  Passion  has  swept  some  of  our  communi- 
ties, but  only  to  give  us  a  new  demonstration 
that  the  great  body  of  our  people  are  stable, 
patriotic,  and  law-abiding.  No  political  party 
can  long  pursue  advantage  at  the  expense  of 
public  honor  or  by  rude  and  indecent  methods 
without  protest  and  fatal  disaffection  in  its 
own  body.  The  peaceful  agencies  of  com- 
merce are  more  fully  revealing  the  necessary 
unity  of  all  our  communities,  and  the  increas- 
ing intercourse  of  our  people  is  promoting 
mutual  respect.  We  shall  find  unalloyed 
pleasure  in  the  revelation  which  our  next  cen- 
sus will  make  of  the  swift  development  of  the 
great  resources  of  some  of  the  States.  Each 
State  will  bring  its  generous  contribution  to 
the  great  aggregate  of  the  nation's  increase. 
And  when  the  harvests  from  the  fields,  the 
cattle  from  the  hills,  and  the  ores  of  the  earth 
shall  have  been  weighed,  counted,  and  valued, 
we  will  turn  from  them  all  to  crown  with  the 
highest  honor  the  State  that  has  most  pro- 
moted education,  virtue,  justice,  and  patriot- 
ism among  its  people. 

March  4,  1889. 


129 


MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  In  obedi- 
ence to  the  mandate  of  my  country- 
men, I  am  about  to  dedicate  myself  to 
their  service  under  the  sanction  of  a  solemn 
oath.  Deeply  moved  by  the  expression  of 
confidence  and  personal  attachment  which  has 
called  me  to  this  service,  I  am  sure  my  grati- 
tude can  make  no  better  return  than  the  pledge 
I  now  give  before  God  and  these  witnesses  of 
unreserved  and  complete  devotion  to  the  inter- 
ests and  welfare  of  those  who  have  honored 
me. 

I  deem  it  fitting  on  this  occasion,  while 
indicating  the  opinions  I  hold  concerning  pub- 
lic questions  of  present  importance,  to  also 
briefly  refer  to  the  existence  of  certain  con- 
ditions and  tendencies  among  our  people  which  i 
seem  to  menace  the  integrity  and  usefulness 
of  their  Government. 

While  every  American  citizen  must  contem- 
plate with  the  utmost  pride  and  enthusiasm 
the  growth  and  expansion  of  our  country,  the 
sufficiency  of  our  institutions  to  stand  against 
the  rudest  shocks  of  violence,  the  wonderful 
thrift  and  enterprise  of  our  people,  and  the 
demonstrated  superiority  of  our  free  govern- 


ment,  it  behooves  us  to  constantly  watch  for 
every  symptom  of  insidious  infirmity  that 
threatens  our  national  vigor. 

The  strong  man  who  in  the  confidence  of 
sturdy  health  courts  the  sternest  activities  of 
life  and  rejoices  in  the  hardihood  of  constant 
labor  may  still  have  lurking  near  his  vitals  the 
unheeded  disease  that  dooms  him  to  sudden 
collapse. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  our  stupendous 
achievements  as  a  people  and  our  country's 
robust  strength  have  given  rise  to  heedless- 
ness  of  those  laws  governing  our  national 
health  which  we  can  no  more  evade  than 
human  life  can  escape  the  laws  of  God  and 
nature. 

Manifestly  nothing  is  more  vital  to  our 
supremacy  as  a  nation  and  to  the  beneficent 
purposes  of  our  Government  than  a  sound  and 
stable  currency.  Its  exposure  to  degradation 
should  at  once  arouse  to  activity  the  most 
enlightened  statesmanship,  and  the  danger  of 
depreciation  in  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
wages  paid  to  toil  should  furnish  the  strongest 
incentive  to  prompt  and  conservative  precau- 
tion. 

In  dealing  with  our  present  embarrassing 
situation  as  related  to  this  subject,  we  will  be 
wise  if  we  temper  our  confidence  and  faith  in 
our  national  strength  and  resources  with  the 
frank  concession  that  even  these  will  not  per- 
mit us  to  defy  with  impunity  the  inexorable 

132 


laws  of  finance  and  trade.  At  the  same  time, 
in  our  efforts  to  adjust  differences  of  opinion 
we  should  be  free  from  intolerance  or  pas- 
sion, and  our  judgments  should  be  unmoved 
by  alluring  phrases  and  unvexed  by  selfish 
interests. 

I  am  confident  that  such  an  approach  to  the 
subject  will  result  in  prudent  and  effective 
remedial  legislation.  In  the  mean  time,  so  far 
as  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government 
can  intervene,  none  of  the  powers  with  which 
it  is  invested  will  be  withheld  when  their  exer- 
cise is  deemed  necessary  to  maintain  our  na- 
tional credit  or  avert  financial  disaster. 

Closely  related  to  the  exaggerated  confidence 
in  our  country's  greatness  which  tends  to  a 
disregard  of  the  rules  of  national  safety,  another 
danger  confronts  us  not  less  serious.  I  refer 
to  the  prevalence  of  a  popular  disposition  to 
expect  from  the  operation  of  the  Government 
especial  and  direct  individual  advantages. 

The  verdict  of  our  voters  which  condemned 
the  injustice  of  maintaining  protection  for 
protection's  sake  enjoins  upon  the  people's 
servants  the  duty  of  exposing  and  destroying 
the  brood  of  kindred  evils  which  are  the  un- 
wholesome progeny  of  paternalism.  This  is 
the  bane  of  republican  institutions  and  the 
constant  peril  of  our  government  by  the  peo- 
ple. It  degrades  to  the  purposes  of  wily  craft 
the  plan  of  rule  our  fathers  established  and 
bequeathed  to  us  as  an  object  of  our  love  and 

133 


inaugural  &&&re£#e£ 


veneration.  It  perverts  the  patriotic  senti- 
ments of  our  countrymen  and  tempts  them  to 
pitiful  calculation  of  the  sordid  gain  to  be 
derived  from  their  Government's  maintenance. 
It  undermines  the  self-reliance  of  our  people 
and  substitutes  in  its  place  dependence  upon 
governmental  favoritism.  It  stifles  the  spirit 
of  true  Americanism  and  stupefies  every  en- 
nobling trait  of  American  citizenship. 

The  lessons  of  paternalism  ought  to  be  un- 
learned and  the  better  lesson  taught  that  while 
the  people  should  patriotically  and  cheerfully 
support  their  Government  its  functions  do  not 
include  the  support  of  the  people. 

The  acceptance  of  this  principle  leads  to  a 
refusal  of  bounties  and  subsidies,  which  burden 
the  labor  and  thrift  of  a  portion  of  our  citizens 
to  aid  ill-advised  or  languishing  enterprises  in 
which  they  have  no  concern.  It  leads  also  to 
a  challenge  of  wild  and  reckless  pension  expend- 
iture, which  overleaps  the  bounds  of  grateful 
recognition  of  patriotic  service  and  prostitutes 
to  vicious  uses  the  people's  prompt  and  gener- 
ous impulse  to  aid  those  disabled  in  their  coun- 
try's defense. 

Every  thoughtful  American  must  realize  the 
importance  of  checking  at  its  beginning  any 
tendency  in  public  or  private  station  to  regard 
frugality  and  economy  as  virtues  which  we 
may  safely  outgrow.  The  toleration  of  this 
idea  results  in  the  waste  of  the  people's  money 
by  their  chosen  servants  and  encourages  prodi- 

134 


Cletoelanfc 


gality  and  extravagance  in  the  home  life  of  our 
countrymen. 

Under  our  scheme  of  government  the  waste 
of  public  money  is  a  crime  against  the  citizen, 
and  the  contempt  of  our  people  for  economy 
and  frugality  in  their  personal  affairs  deplor- 
ably saps  the  strength  and  sturdiness  of  our 
national  character. 

It  is  a  plain  dictate  of  honesty  and  good 
government  that  public  expenditures  should  be 
limited  by  public  necessity,  and  that  this  should 
be  measured  by  the  rules  of  strict  economy; 
and  it  is  equally  clear  that  frugality  among  the 
people  is  the  best  guaranty  of  a  contented  and 
strong  support  of  free  institutions. 

One  mode  of  the  misappropriation  of  public 
funds  is  avoided  when  appointments  to  office, 
instead  of  being  the  rewards  of  partisan  activ- 
ity, are  awarded  to  those  whose  efficiency 
promises  a  fair  return  of  work  for  the  com- 
pensation paid  to  them.  To  secure  the  fitness 
and  competency  of  appointees  to  office  and 
remove  from  political  action  the  demoralizing 
madness  for  spoils,  civil-service  reform  has 
found  a  place  in  our  public  policy  and  laws. 
The  benefits  already  gained  through  this  instru- 
mentality and  the  further  usefulness  it  promises 
entitle  it  to  the  hearty  support  and  encourage- 
ment of  all  who  desire  to  see  our  public  service 
well  performed  or  who  hope  for  the  elevation 
of  political  sentiment  and  the  purification  of 
political  methods. 

135 


The  existence  of  immense  aggregations  of 
kindred  enterprises  and  combinations  of  busi- 
ness interests  formed  for  the  purpose  of  limit- 
ing production  and  fixing  prices  is  inconsistent 
with  the  fair  field  which  ought  to  be  open  to 
every  independent  activity.  Legitimate  strife 
in  business  should  not  be  superseded  by  an 
enforced  concession  to  the  demands  of  combi- 
nations that  have  the  power  to  destroy,  nor 
should  the  people  to  be  served  lose  the  benefit 
of  cheapness  which  usually  results  from  whole- 
some competition.  These  aggregations  and 
combinations  frequently  constitute  conspiracies 
against  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  in  all 
their  phases  they  are  unnatural  and  opposed  to 
our  American  sense  of  fairness.  To  the 
extent  that  they  can  be  reached  and  restrained 
by  Federal  power  the  General  Government 
should  relieve  our  citizens  from  their  interfer- 
ence and  exactions. 

Loyalty  to  the  principles  upon  which  our 
Government  rests  positively  demands  that  the 
equality  before  the  law  which  it  guarantees  to 
every  citizen  should  be  justly  and  in  good  faith 
conceded  in  all  parts  of  the  land.  The  enjoy- 
ment of  this  right  follows  the  badge  of  citizen- 
ship wherever  found,  and,  unimpaired  by  race 
or  color,  it  appeals  for  recognition  to  Ameri- 
can manliness  and  fairness. 

Our  relations  with  the  Indians  located  within 
our  border  impose  upon  us  responsibilities  we 
cannot  escape.  Humanity  and  consistency 

136 


Cletoelanfc 


require  us  to  treat  them  with  forbearance  and 
in  our  dealings  with  them  to  honestly  and  con- 
siderately regard  their  rights  and  interests. 
Every  effort  should  be  made  to  lead  them, 
through  the  paths  of  civilization  and  educa- 
tion, to  self-supporting  and  independent  citi- 
zenship. In  the  mean  time,  as  the  nation's 
wards,  they  should  be  promptly  defended 
against  the  cupidity  of  designing  men  and 
shielded  from  every  influence  or  temptation 
that  retards  their  advancement. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  have  de- 
creed that  on  this  day  the  control  of  their 
Government  in  its  legislative  and  executive 
branches  shall  be  given  to  a  political  party 
pledged  in  the  most  positive  terms  to  the 
accomplishment  of  tariff  reform.  They  have 
thus  determined  in  favor  of  a  more  just  and 
equitable  system  of  Federal  taxation.  The 
agents  they  have  chosen  to  carry  out  their 
purposes  are  bound  by  their  promises  not  less 
than  by  the  command  of  their  masters  to 
devote  themselves  unremittingly  to  this  service. 

While  there  should  be  no  surrender  of  prin- 
ciple, our  task  must  be  undertaken  wisely  and 
without  heedless  vindictiveness.  Our  mission 
is  not  punishment,  but  the  rectification  of 
wrong.  If  in  lifting  burdens  from  the  daily 
life  of  our  people  we  reduce  inordinate  and 
unequal  advantages  too  long  enjoyed,  this  is 
but  a  necessary  incident  of  our  return  to  right 
and  justice.  If  we  exact  from  unwilling  minds 

137 


acquiescence  in  the  theory  of  an  honest  distri- 
bution of  the  fund  of  the  governmental  benefi- 
cence treasured  up  for  all,  we  but  insist  upon 
a  principle  which  underlies  our  free  institu- 
tions. When  we  tear  aside  the  delusions  and 
misconceptions  which  have  blinded  our  coun- 
trymen to  their  condition  under  vicious  tariff 
laws,  we  but  show  them  how  far  they  have 
been  led  away  from  the  paths  of  contentment 
and  prosperity.  When  we  proclaim  that  the 
necessity  for  revenue  to  support  the  Govern- 
ment furnishes  the  only  justification  for  taxing 
the  people,  we  announce  a  truth  so  plain  that 
its  denial  would  seem  to  indicate  the  extent  to 
which  judgment  may  be  influenced  by  famil- 
iarity with  perversions  of  the  taxing  power. 
And  when  we  seek  to  reinstate  the  self-confi- 
dence and  business  enterprise  of  our  citizens 
by  discrediting  an  abject  dependence  upon 
governmental  favor,  we  strive  to  stimulate 
those  elements  of  American  character  which 
support  the  hope  of  American  achievement. 
Anxiety  for  the  redemption  of  the  pledges 
which  my  party  has  made  and  solicitude  for 
the  complete  justification  of  the  trust  the  peo- 
ple have  reposed  in  us  constrain  me  to  remind 
those  with  whom  I  am  to  co-operate  that  we 
can  succeed  in  doing  the  work  which  has  been 
especially  set  before  us  only  by  the  most  sin- 
cere, harmonious,  and  disinterested  effort. 
Even  if  insuperable  obstacles  and  opposition 
prevent  the  consummation  of  our  task,  we 

138 


shall  hardly  be  excused;  and  if  failure  can  be 
traced  to  our  fault  or  neglect,  we  may  be  sure 
the  people  will  hold  us  to  a  swift  and  exacting 
accountability. 

The  oath  I  now  take  to  preserve,  protect, 
and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  not  only  impressively  defines  the  great 
responsibility  I  assume,  but  suggests  obedience 
to  constitutional  commands  as  the  rule  by  which 
my  official  conduct  must  be  guided.  I  shall 
to  the  best  of  my  ability  and  within  my  sphere 
of  duty  preserve  the  Constitution  by  loyally 
protecting  every  grant  of  Federal  power  it 
contains,  by  defending  all  its  restraints  when 
attacked  by  impatience  and  restlessness,  and 
by  enforcing  its  limitations  and  reservations  in 
favor  of  the  States  and  the  people. 

Fully  impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the 
duties  that  confront  me  and  mindful  of  my 
weakness,  I  should  be  appalled  if  it  were  my 
lot  to  bear  unaided  the  responsibilities  which 
await  me.  I  am,  however,  saved  from  dis- 
couragement when  I  remember  that  I  shall 
have  the  support  and  counsel  and  co-operation 
of  wise  and  patriotic  men  who  will  stand  at 
my  side  in  Cabinet  places  or  will  represent  the 
people  in  their  legislative  halls. 

I  find  also  much  comfort  in  remembering 
that  my  countrymen  are  just  and  generous 
and  in  the  assurance  that  they  will  not  con- 
demn those  who  by  sincere  devotion  to  their 
service  deserve  their  forbearance  and  approval. 

139 


Above  all,  I  know  there  is  a  Supreme  Being 
who  rules  the  affairs  of  men  and  whose  good- 
ness and  mercy  have  always  followed  the 
American  people,  and  I  know  He  will  not  turn 
from  us  now  if  we  humbly  and  reverently  seek 
His  powerful  aid. 

March  4,  1893. 


140 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:  In  obedience  to 
the  will  of  the  people,  and  in  their  pres- 
ence, by  the  authority  vested  in  me  by 
this  oath,  I  assume  the  arduous  and  responsible 
duties  of  President  of  the  United  States,  rely- 
ing on  the  support  of  my  countrymen  and  in- 
voking the  guidance  of  Almighty  God.  Our 
faith  teaches  that  there  is  no  safer  reliance 
than  upon  the  God  of  our  fathers,  who  has  so 
singularly  favored  the  American  people  in 
every  national  trial,  and  who  will  not  forsake 
us  so  long  as  we  obey  His  commandments  and 
walk  humbly  in  His  footsteps. 

The  responsibilities  of  the  high  trust  to 
which  I  have  been  called — always  of  grave 
importance — are  augmented  by  the  prevailing 
business  conditions,  entailing  idleness  upon 
willing  labor  and  loss  to  useful  enterprises. 
The  country  is  suffering  from  industrial  dis- 
turbances from  which  speedy  relief  must  be 
had.  Our  financial  system  needs  some  revis- 
ion; our  money  is  all  good  now,  but  its  value 
must  not  further  be  threatened.  It  should  all 
be  put  upon  an  enduring  basis,  not  subject  to 
easy  attack,  nor  its  stability  to  doubt  or  dis- 
pute. Our  currency  should  continue  under 
141 


inaugural 


the  supervision  of  the  Government.  The 
several  forms  of  our  paper  money  offer,  in 
my  judgment,  a  constant  embarrassment  to 
the  Government  and  a  safe  balance  in  the 
Treasury.  Therefore  I  believe  it  necessary  to 
devise  a  system  which,  without  diminishing 
the  circulating  medium  or  offering  a  premium 
for  its  contraction,  will  present  a  remedy  for 
those  arrangements  which,  temporary  in  their 
nature,  might  well  in  the  years  of  our  prosper- 
ity have  been  displaced  by  wiser  provisions. 
With  adequate  revenue  secured,  but  not  until 
then,  we  can  enter  upon  such  changes  in  our 
fiscal  laws  as  will,  while  insuring  safety  and 
volume  to  our  money,  no  longer  impose  upon 
the  Government  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
so  large  a  gold  reserve,  with  its  attendant  and 
inevitable  temptations  to  speculation.  Most 
of  'our  financial  laws  are  the  outgrowth  of 
experience  and  trial,  and  should  not  be 
amended  without  investigation  and  demonstra- 
tion of  the  wisdom  of  the  proposed  changes. 
We  must  be  both  "sure  we  are  right"  and 
"make  haste  slowly."  If,  therefore,  Con- 
gress in  its  wisdom  shall  deem  it  expedient  to 
create  a  commission  to  take  under  early  con- 
sideration the  revision  of  our  coinage,  bank- 
ing, and  currency  laws,  and  give  them  that 
exhaustive,  careful,  and  dispassionate  exami- 
nation that  their  importance  demands,  I  shall 
cordially  concur  in  such  action.  If  such 
power  is  vested  in  the  President,  it  is  my  pur- 

142 


pose  to  appoint  a  commission  of  prominent, 
well-informed  citizens  of  different  parties, 
who  will  command  public  confidence,  both  on 
account  of  their  ability  and  special  fitness  for 
the  work.  Business  experience  and  public 
training  may  thus  be  combined,  and  the  patri- 
otic zeal  of  the  friends  of  the  country  be  so 
directed  that  such  a  report  will  be  made  as  to 
receive  the  support  of  all  parties,  and  our 
finances  cease  to  be  the  subject  of  mere  parti- 
san contention.  The  experiment  is,  at  all 
events,  worth  a  trial,  and,  in  my  opinion,  it 
can  but  prove  beneficial  to  the  entire  country. 

The  question  of  international  bimetallism 
will  have  early  and  earnest  attention.  It  will 
be  my  constant  endeavor  to  secure  it  by  co- 
operation with  the  other  great  commercial 
powers  of  the  world.  Until  that  condition  is 
realized  when  the  parity  between  our  gold  and 
silver  money  springs  from  and  is  supported 
by  the  relative  value  of  the  two  metals,  the 
value  of  the  silver  already  coined  and  of  that 
which  may  hereafter  be  coined  must  be  kept 
constantly  at  par  with  gold  by  every  resource 
at  our  command.  The  credit  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  integrity  of  its  currency,  and  the 
inviolability  of  its  obligations  must  be  pre- 
served. This  was  the  commanding  verdict  of 
the  people,  and  it  will  not  be  unheeded. 

Economy  is  demanded  in  every  branch  of 
the  Government  at  all  times,  but  especially  in 
periods,  like  the  present,  of  depression  in  busi- 

'43 


inaugural 


ness  and  distress  among  the  people.  The 
severest  economy  must  be  observed  in  all  pub- 
lic expenditures,  and  extravagance  stopped 
wherever  it  is  found,  and  prevented  wherever 
in  the  future  it  may  be  developed.  If  the 
revenues  are  to  remain  as  now,  the  only  relief 
that  can  come  must  be  from  decreased  expen- 
ditures. But  the  present  must  not  become 
the  permanent  condition  of  the  Government. 
It  has  been  our  uniform  practice  to  retire,  not 
increase,  our  outstanding  obligations,  and  this 
policy  must  again  be  resumed  and  vigorously 
enforced.  Our  revenues  should  always  be 
large  enough  to  meet  with  ease  and  prompt- 
ness not  only  our  current  needs  and  the  prin- 
cipal and  interest  of  the  public  debt,  but  to 
make  proper  and  liberal  provision  for  that 
most  deserving  body  of  public  creditors,  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  and  the  widows  and 
orphans  who  are  the  pensioners  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Government  should  not  be  permitted  to 
run  behind  or  increase  its  debt  in  times  like 
the  present.  Suitably  to  provide  against  this 
is  the  mandate  of  duty — the  certain  and  easy 
remedy  for  most  of  our  financial  difficulties. 
A  deficiency  is  inevitable  so  long  as  the  ex- 
penditures of  the  Government  exceed  its 
receipts.  It  can  only  be  met  by  loans  or  an 
increased  revenue.  While  a  large  annual 
surplus  of  revenue  may  invite  waste  and  ex- 
travagance, inadequate  revenue  creates  distrust 


and  undermines  public  and  private  credit. 
Neither  should  be  encouraged.  Between  more 
loans  and  more  revenue  there  ought  to  be  but 
one  opinion.  We  should  have  more  revenue, 
and  that  without  delay,  hindrance,  or  postpone- 
ment. A  surplus  in  the  Treasury  created  by 
loans  is  not  a  permanent  or  safe  reliance.  It 
will  suffice  while  it  lasts,  but  it  cannot  last 
long  while  the  outlays  of  the  Government  are 
greater  than  its  receipts,  as  has  been  the  case 
during  the  past  two  years.  Nor  must  it  be 
forgotten  that  however  much  such  loans  may 
temporarily  relieve  the  situation,  the  Govern- 
ment is  still  indebted  for  the  amount  of  the 
surplus  thus  accrued,  which  it  must  ultimately 
pay,  while  its  ability  to  pay  is  not  strength- 
ened, but  weakened  by  a  continued  deficit. 
Loans  are  imperative  in  great  emergencies  to 
preserve  the  Government  or  its  credit,  but  a 
failure  to  supply  needed  revenue  in  time  of 
peace  for  the  maintenance  of  either  has  no 
justification. 

The  best  way  for  the  Government  to  main- 
tain its  credit  is  to  pay  as  it  goes — not  by 
resorting  to  loans,  but  by  keeping  out  of  debt 
— through  an  adequate  income  secured  by  a 
system  of  taxation,  external  or  internal,  or 
both.  It  is  the  settled  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment, pursued  from  the  beginning  and  prac- 
ticed by  all  parties  and  Administrations,  to 
raise  the  bulk  of  our  revenue  from  taxes  upon 
foreign  productions  entering  the  United  States 

M5 


inaugural 


for  sale  and  consumption,  and  avoiding,  for 
the  most  part,  every  form  of  direct  taxation, 
except  in  time  of  war.  The  country  is  clearly 
opposed  to  any  needless  additions  to  the  sub- 
jects of  internal  taxation,  and  is  committed  by 
its  latest  popular  utterance  to  the  system  of 
tariff  taxation.  There  can  be  no  misunder- 
standing, either,  about  the  principle  upon  which 
this  tariff  taxation  shall  be  levied.  Nothing 
has  ever  been  made  plainer  at  a  general  elec- 
tion than  that  the  controlling  principle  in  the 
raising  of  revenue  from  duties  on  imports  is 
zealous  care  for  American  interests  and  Ameri- 
can labor.  The  people  have  declared  that 
such  legislation  should  be  had  as  will  give 
ample  protection  and  encouragement  to  the 
industries  and  the  development  of  our  country. 
It  is,  therefore,  earnestly  hoped  and  expected 
that  Congress  will,  at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment,  enact  revenue  legislation  that  shall  be 
fair,  reasonable,  conservative,  and  just,  and 
which,  while  supplying  sufficient  revenue  for 
public  purposes,  will  still  be  signally  beneficial 
and  helpful  to  every  section  and  every  enter- 
prise of  the  people.  To  this  policy,  we  are 
all,  of  whatever  party,  firmly  bound  by  the 
voice  of  the  people — a  power  vastly  more 
potential  than  the  expression  of  any  political 
platform.  The  paramount  duty  of  Congress 
is  to  stop  deficiencies  by  the  restoration  of 
that  protective  legislation  which  has  always 
been  the  firmest  prop  of  the  Treasury.  The 

146 


tteiiiiam 


passage  of  such  a  law  or  laws  would  strengthen 
the  credit  of  the  Government,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  go  far  toward  stopping  the 
drain  upon  the  gold  reserve  held  for  the  re- 
demption of  our  currency,  which  has  been 
heavy  and  well-nigh  constant  for  several 
years. 

In  the  revision  of  the  tariff  especial  attention 
should  be  given  to  the  re-enactment  and  exten- 
sion of  the  reciprocity  principle  of  the  law  of 
1890,  under  which  so  great  a  stimulus  was 
given  to  our  foreign  trade  in  new  and  advan- 
tageous markets  for  our  surplus  agricultural 
and  manufactured  products.  The  brief  trial 
given  this  legislation  amply  justifies  a  further 
experiment  and  additional  discretionary  power 
in  the  making  of  commercial  treaties,  the  end 
in  view  always  to  be  the  opening  up  of  new 
markets  for  the  products  of  our  country,  by 
granting  concessions  to  the  products  of  other 
lands  that  we  need  and  cannot  produce  our- 
selves, and  which  do  not  involve  any  loss  of 
labor  to  our  own  people,  but  tend  to  increase 
their  employment. 

The  depression  of  the  past  four  years  has 
fallen  with  especial  severity  upon  the  great 
body  of  toilers  of  the  country,  and  upon  none 
more  than  the  holders  of  small  farms.  Agri- 
culture has  languished  and  labor  suffered. 
The  revival  of  manufacturing  will  be  a  relief 
to  both.  No  portion  of  our  population  is 
more  devoted  to  the  institutions  of  free  gov- 

H7 


inaugural 


ernment  nor  more  loyal  in  their  support,  while 
none  bears  more  cheerfully  or  fully  its  proper 
share  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Government 
or  is  better  entitled  to  its  wise  and  liberal  care 
and  protection.  Legislation  helpful  to  pro- 
ducers is  beneficial  to  all.  The  depressed 
condition  of  industry  on  the  farm  and  in  the 
mine  and  factory  has  lessened  the  ability  of 
the  people  to  meet  the  demands  upon  them, 
and  they  rightfully  expect  that  not  only  a  sys- 
tem of  revenue  shall  be  established  that  will 
secure  the  largest  income  with  the  least 
burden,  but  that  every  means  will  be  taken  to 
decrease,  rather  than  increase,  our  public 
expenditures.  Business  conditions  are  not  the 
most  promising.  It  will  take  time  to  restore 
the  prosperity  of  former  years.  If  we  cannot 
promptly  attain  it,  we  can  resolutely  turn  our 
faces  in  that  direction  and  aid  its  return  by 
friendly  legislation.  However  troublesome 
the  situation  may  appear,  Congress  will  not,  I 
am  sure,  be  found  lacking  in  disposition  or 
ability  to  relieve  it  as  far  as  legislation  can  do 
so.  The  restoration  of  confidence  and  the 
revival  of  business,  which  men  of  all  parties 
so  much  desire,  depend  more  largely  upon  the 
prompt,  energetic,  and  intelligent  action  of 
Congress  than  upon  any  other  single  agency 
affecting  the  situation. 

It  is  inspiring,  too,  to  remember  that  no 
great  emergency  in  the  one  hundred  and  eight 
years  of  our  eventful  national  life  has  ever 

148 


arisen  that  has  not  been  met  with  wisdom  and 
courage  by  the  American  people,  with  fidelity 
to  their  best  interests  and  highest  destiny,  and 
to  the  honor  of  the  American  name.  These 
years  of  glorious  history  have  exalted  mankind 
and  advanced  the  cause  of  freedom  through- 
out the  world  and  immeasurably  strengthened 
the  precious  free  institutions  which  we  enjoy. 
The  people  love  and  will  sustain  these  institu- 
tions. The  great  essential  to  our  happiness 
and  prosperity  is  that  we  adhere  to  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  the  Government  was  estab- 
lished and  insist  upon  their  faithful  observance. 
Equality  of  rights  must  prevail  and  our  laws 
be  always  and  everywhere  respected  and 
obeyed.  We  may  have  failed  in  the  discharge 
of  our  full  duty  as  citizens  of  the  great  Re- 
public, but  it  is  consoling  and  encouraging  to 
realize  that  free  speech,  a  free  press,  free 
thought,  free  schools,  the  free  and  unmolested 
right  of  religious  liberty  and  worship,  and  free 
and  fair  elections  are  dearer  and  more  univer- 
sally enjoyed  to-day  than  ever  before.  These 
guaranties  must  be  sacredly  preserved  and 
wisely  strengthened.  The  constituted  authori- 
ties must  be  cheerfully  and  vigorously  upheld. 
Lynchings  must  not  be  tolerated  in  a  great  and 
civilized  country  like  the  United  States; 
courts,  not  mobs,  must  execute  the  penalties 
of  the  law.  The  preservation  of  public  order, 
the  right  of  discussion,  the  integrity  of  courts, 
and  the  orderly  administration  of  justice  must 

149 


inaugural 


continue  forever  the  rock  of  safety  upon  which 
our  Government  securely  rests. 

One  of  the  lessons  taught  by  the  late  election, 
which  all  can  rejoice  in,  is  that  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  are  both  law-respecting 
and  law-abiding  people,  not  easily  swerved 
from  the  path  of  patriotism  and  honor.  This 
is  in  entire  accord  with  the  genius  of  our  in- 
stitutions, and  but  emphasizes  the  advantages 
of  inculcating  even  a  greater  love  for  law  and 
order  in  the  future.  Immunity  should  be 
granted  to  none  who  violate  the  laws,  whether 
individuals,  corporations,  or  communities;  and 
as  the  Constitution  imposes  upon  the  President 
the  duty  of  both  its  own  execution,  and  of  the 
statutes  enacted  in  pursuance  of  its  provisions, 
I  shall  endeavor  carefully  to  carry  them  into 
effect.  The  declaration  of  the  party  now 
restored  to  power  has  been  in  the  past  that  of 
"opposition  to  all  combinations  of  capital 
organized  in  trusts,  or  otherwise,  to  control 
arbitrarily  the  condition  of  trade  among  our 
citizens,"  and  it  has  supported  "such  legisla- 
tion as  will  prevent  the  execution  of  all  schemes 
to  oppress  the  people  by  undue  charges  on 
their  supplies,  or  by  unjust  rates  for  the  trans- 
portation of  their  products  to  market."  This 
purpose  will  be  steadily  pursued,  both  by  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws  now  in  existence  and 
the  recommendation  and  support  of  such  new 
statutes  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  it  into 
effect. 

150 


Our  naturalization  and  immigration  laws 
should  be  further  improved  to  the  constant 
promotion  of  a  safer,  a  better,  and  a  higher 
citizenship.  A  grave  peril  to  the  Republic 
would  be  a  citizenship  too  ignorant  to  under- 
stand or  too  vicious  to  appreciate  the  great 
value  and  beneficence  of  our  institutions  and 
laws,  and  against  all  who  come  here  to  make 
war  upon  them  our  gates  must  be  promptly 
and  tightly  closed.  Nor  must  we  be  unmind- 
ful of  the  need  of  improvement  among  our  own 
citizens,  but  with  the  zeal  of  our  forefathers 
encourage  the  spread  of  knowledge  and  free 
education.  Illiteracy  must  be  banished  from 
the  land  if  we  shall  attain  that  high  destiny  as 
the  foremost  of  the  enlightened  nations  of  the 
world  which,  under  Providence,  we  ought  to 
achieve. 

Reforms  in  the  civil  service  must  go  on; 
but  the  changes  should  be  real  and  genuine, 
not  perfunctory,  or  prompted  by  a  zeal  in 
behalf  of  any  party  simply  because  it  happens 
to  be  in  power.  As  a  member  of  Congress  I 
voted  and  spoke  in  favor  of  the  present  law, 
and  I  shall  attempt  its  enforcement  in  the 
spirit  in  which  it  was  enacted.  The  purpose 
in  view  was  to  secure  the  most  efficient  service 
of  the  best  men  who  would  accept  appointment 
under  the  Government,  retaining  faithful  and 
devoted  public  servants  in  office,  but  shielding 
none,  under  the  authority  of  any  rule  or  cus- 
tom, who  are  inefficient,  incompetent,  or  un- 


inaugural 


worthy.  The  best  interests  of  the  country 
demand  this,  and  the  people  heartily  approve 
the  law  wherever  and  whenever  it  has  been 
thus  administered. 

Congress  should  give  prompt  attention  to 
the  restoration  of  our  American  merchant 
marine,  once  the  pride  of  the  seas  in  all  the 
great  ocean  highways  of  commerce.  To  my 
mind,  few  more  important  subjects  so  impera- 
tively demand  its  intelligent  consideration. 
The  United  States  has  progressed  with  mar- 
velous rapidity  in  every  field  of  enterprise  and 
endeavor  until  we  have  become  foremost  in 
nearly  all  the  great  lines  of  inland  trade,  com- 
merce, and  industry.  Yet,  while  this  is  true, 
our  American  merchant  marine  has  been 
steadily  declining  until  it  is  now  lower,  both  in 
the  percentage  of  tonnage  and  the  number  of 
vessels  employed,  than  it  was  prior  to  the  civil 
war.  Commendable  progress  has  been  made 
of  late  years  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  Ameri- 
can Navy,  but  we  must  supplement  these 
efforts  by  providing  as  a  proper  consort  for  it 
a  merchant  marine  amply  sufficient  for  our 
own  carrying  trade  to  foreign  countries.  The 
question  is  one  that  appeals  both  to  our  busi- 
ness necessities  and  the  patriotic  aspirations 
of  a  great  people. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  United  States 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Government  to 
cultivate  relations  of  peace  and  amity  with  all 
the  nations  of  the  world,  and  this  accords  with 

152 


IMliam 


my  conception  of  our  duty  now.  We  have 
cherished  the  policy  of  non-interference  with 
the  affairs  of  foreign  governments  wisely  in- 
augurated by  Washington,  keeping  ourselves 
free  from  entanglement  either  as  allies  or  foes, 
content  to  leave  undisturbed  with  them  the 
settlement  of  their  own  domestic  concerns. 
It  will  be  our  aim  to  pursue  a  firm  and  digni- 
fied foreign  policy,  which  shall  be  just,  impar- 
tial, ever  watchful  of  our  national  honor,  and 
always  insisting  upon  the  enforcement  of  the 
lawful  rights  of  American  citizens  everywhere. 
Our  diplomacy  should  seek  nothing  more  and 
accept  nothing  less  than  is  due  us.  We  want 
no  wars  of  conquest ;  we  must  avoid  the  temp- 
tation of  territorial  aggression.  War  should 
never  be  entered  upon  until  every  agency  of 
peace  has  failed;  peace  is  preferable  to  war  in 
almost  every  contingency.  Arbitration  is  the 
true  method  of  settlement  of  international  as 
well  as  local  or  individual  differences.  It  was 
recognized  as  the  best  means  of  adjustment  of 
differences  between  employers  and  employees 
by  the  Forty-ninth  Congress,  in  1886,  and  its 
application  was  extended  to  our  diplomatic 
relations  by  the  unanimous  concurrence  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress 
in  1890.  The  latter  resolution  was  accepted 
as  the  basis  of  negotiations  with  us  by  the 
British  House  of  Commons  in  1893,  and  upon 
our  invitation  a  treaty  of  arbitration  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  was  signed 

153 


inaugural 


at  Washington  and  transmitted  to  the*  Senate 
for  its  ratification  in  January  last.  Since  this 
treaty  is  clearly  the  result  of  our  own  initia- 
tive; since  it  has  been  recognized  as  the  lead- 
ing feature  of  our  foreign  policy  throughout 
our  entire  national  history — the  adjustment  of 
difficulties  by  judicial  methods  rather  than  force 
of  arms — and  since  it  presents  to  the  world 
the  glorious  example  of  reason  and  peace,  not 
passion  and  war,  controlling  the  relations  be- 
tween two  of  the  greatest  nations  in  the  world, 
an  example  certain  to  be  followed  by  others,  I 
respectfully  urge  the  early  action  of  the  Senate 
thereon,  not  merely  as  a  matter  of  policy,  but 
as  a  duty  to  mankind.  The  importance  and 
moral  influence  of  the  ratification  of  such  a 
treaty  can  hardly  be  overestimated  in  the  cause 
of  advancing  civilization.  It  may  well  engage 
the  best  thought  of  the  statesmen  and  people  of 
every  country,  and  I  cannot  but  consider  it  for- 
tunate that  it  was  reserved  to  the  United  States 
to  have  the  leadership  in  so  grand  a  work. 

It  has  been  the  uniform  practice  of  each 
President  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  con- 
vening of  Congress  in  extraordinary  session. 
It  is  an  example  which,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances and  in  the  absence  of  a  public  necessity, 
is  to  be  commended.  But  a  failure  to  convene 
the  representatives  of  the  people  in  Congress 
in  extra  session  when  it  involves  neglect  of  a 
public  duty  places  the  responsibility  of  such 
neglect  upon  the  Executive  himself.  The  con- 

154 


dition  of  the  public  Treasury,  as  has  been  indi- 
cated, demands  the  immediate  consideration 
of  Congress.  It  alone  has  the  power  to  pro- 
vide revenues  for  the  Government.  Not  to 
convene  it  under  such  circumstances  I  can 
view  in  no  other  sense  than  the  neglect  of  a 
plain  duty.  I  do  not  sympathize  with  the 
sentiment  that  Congress  in  session  is  danger- 
ous to  our  general  business  interests.  Its 
members  are  the  agents  of  the  people,  and 
their  presence  at  the  seat  of  government  in 
the  execution  of  the  sovereign  will  should  not 
operate  as  an  injury,  but  a  benefit.  There 
could  be  no  better  time  to  put  the  Government 
upon  a  sound  financial  and  economic  basis 
than  now.  The  people  have  only  recently 
voted  that  this  should  be  done,  and  nothing  is 
more  binding  upon  the  agents  of  their  will  than 
the  obligation  of  immediate  action.  It  has 
always  seemed  to  me  that  the  postponement  of 
the  meeting  of  Congress  until  more  than  a  year 
after  it  has  been  chosen  deprived  Congress  too 
often  of  the  inspiration  of  the  popular  will  and 
the  country  of  the  corresponding  benefits.  It 
is  evident,  therefore,  that  to  postpone  action 
in  the  presence  of  so  great  a  necessity  would 
be  unwise  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  because 
unjust  to  the  interests  of  the  people.  Our 
actions  now  will  be  freer  from  mere  partisan 
consideration  than  if  the  question  of  tariff 
revision  was  postponed  until  the  regular  ses- 
sion of  Congress.  We  are  nearly  two  years 

155 


inaugural 


from  a  Congressional  election,  and  politics 
cannot  so  greatly  distract  us  as  if  such  contest 
was  immediately  pending.  We  can  approach 
the  problem  calmly  and  patriotically,  without 
fearing  its  effect  upon  an  early  election.  Our 
fellow-citizens  who  may  disagree  with  us  upon 
the  character  of  this  legislation  prefer  to  have 
the  question  settled  now,  even  against  their 
preconceived  views,  and  perhaps  settled  so 
reasonably,  as  I  trust  and  believe  it  will  be,  as 
to  insure  great  permanence,  than  to  have 
further  uncertainty  menacing  the  vast  and 
varied  business  interests  of  the  United  States. 
Again,  whatever  action  Congress  may  take 
will  be  given  a  fair  opportunity  for  trial  before 
the  people  are  called  to  pass  judgment  upon 
it,  and  this  I  consider  a  great  essential  to  the 
rightful  and  lasting  settlement  of  the  question. 
In  view  of  these  considerations,  I  shall  deem 
it  my  duty  as  President  to  convene  Congress 
in  extraordinary  session  on  Monday,  the  I5th 
day  of  March,  1897. 

In  conclusion,  I  congratulate  the  country 
upon  the  fraternal  spirit  of  the  people  and  the 
manifestations  of  good  will  everywhere  so 
apparent.  The  recent  election  not  only  most 
fortunately  demonstrated  the  obliteration  of 
sectional  or  geographical  lines,  but  to  some 
extent  also  the  prejudices  which  for  years  have 
distracted  our  councils  and  marred  our  true 
greatness  as  a  nation.  The  triumph  of  the 
people,  whose  verdict  is  carried  into  effect 

156 


UDiiliam 


to-day  is  not  the  triumph  of  one  section,  nor 
wholly  of  one  party,  but  of  all  sections  and  all 
the  people.  The  North  and  the  South  no 
longer  divide  on  the  old  lines,  but  upon  prin- 
ciples and  policies;  and  in  this  fact  surely 
every  lover  of  the  country  can  find  cause  for 
true  felicitation.  Let  us  rejoice  in  and  culti- 
vate this  spirit ;  it  is  ennobling  and  will  be  both 
a  gain  and  blessing  to  our  beloved  country.  It 
will  be  my  constant  aim  to  do  nothing  and 
permit  nothing  to  be  done,  that  will  arrest  or 
disturb  this  growing  sentiment  of  unity  and 
co-operation,  this  revival  of  esteem  and  affilia- 
tion which  now  animates  so  many  thousands  in 
both  the  old  antagonistic  sections,  but  I  shall 
cheerfully  do  everything  possible  to  promote 
and  increase  it. 

Let  me  again  repeat  the  words  of  the  oath 
administered  by  the  Chief  Justice,  which,  in 
their  respective  spheres,  so  far  as  applicable,  I 
would  have  all  my  countrymen  observe:  "I 
will  faithfully  execute  the  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best  of 
my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States."  This  is 
the  obligation  I  have  reverently  taken  before 
the  Lord  Most  High.  To  keep  it  will  be  my 
single  purpose,  my  constant  prayer;  and  I 
shall  confidently  rely  upon  the  forbearance 
and  assistance  of  all  the  people  in  the  dis- 
charge of  my  solemn  responsibilities. 

March  4,  1897. 

157 


OTflliam 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  When  we 
assembled  here  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1897,  there  was  great  anxiety  with 
regard  to  our  currency  and  credit.  None 
exists  now.  Then  our  Treasury  receipts  were 
inadequate  to  meet  the  current  obligations  of 
the  Government.  Now  they  are  sufficient  for 
all  public  needs,  and  we  have  a  surplus  instead 
of  a  deficit.  Then  I  felt  constrained  to  con- 
vene the  Congress  in  extraordinary  session  to 
devise  revenues  to  pay  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  Government.  Now  I  have  the  satis- 
faction to  announce  that  the  Congress  just 
closed  has  reduced  taxation  in  the  sum  of 
forty-one  millions  of  dollars.  Then  there  was 
deep  solicitude  because  of  the  long  depression 
in  our  manufacturing,  mining,  agricultural, 
and  mercantile  industries  and  the  consequent 
distress  of  our  laboring  population.  Now 
every  avenue  of  production  is  crowded  with 
activity,  labor  is  well  employed,  and  American 
products  find  good  markets  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Our  diversified  productions,  however,  are 
increasing  in  such  unprecedented  volume  as 
to  admonish  us  of  the  necessity  of  still  further 

J59 


enlarging  our  foreign  markets  by  broader  com- 
mercial relations.  For  this  purpose  reciprocal 
trade  arrangements  with  other  nations  should 
in  liberal  spirit  be  carefully  cultivated  and  pro- 
moted. 

The  national  verdict  of  1896  has  for  the 
most  part  been  executed.  Whatever  remains 
unfulfilled  is  a  continuing  obligation  resting 
with  undiminished  force  upon  the  Executive 
and  the  Congress.  But  fortunate  as  our  con- 
dition is,  its  permanence  can  only  be  assured 
by  sound  business  methods  and  strict  economy 
in  national  administration  and  legislation.  We 
should  not  permit  our  great  prosperity  to  lead 
us  to  reckless  ventures  in  business  or  profligacy 
in  public  expenditures.  While  the  Congress 
determines  the  objects  and  the  sum  of  appro- 
priations, the  officials  of  the  Executive  Depart- 
ments are  responsible  for  honest  and  faithful 
disbursement,  and  it  should  be  their  constant 
care  to  avoid  waste  and  extravagance. 

Honesty,  capacity,  and  industry  are  nowhere 
more  indispensable  than  in  public  employment. 
These  should  be  fundamental  requisites  to 
original  appointment  and  the  surest  guaranties 
against  removal. 

Four  years  ago  we  stood  on  the  brink  of  war 
without  the  people  knowing  it  and  without  any 
preparation  or  effort  at  preparation  for  the 
impending  peril.  I  did  all  that  in  honor  could 
be  done  to  avert  the  war,  but  without  avail. 
It  became  inevitable;  and  the  Congress  at  its 

160 


first  regular  session,  without  party  division, 
provided  money  in  anticipation  of  the  crisis 
and  in  preparation  to  meet  it.  It  came.  The 
result  was  signally  favorable  to  American  arms 
and  in  the  highest  degree  honorable  to  the 
Government.  It  imposed  upon  us  obligations 
from  which  we  cannot  escape  and  from  which 
it  would  be  dishonorable  to  seek  to  escape. 
We  are  now  at  peace  with  the  world,  and  it  is 
my  fervent  prayer  that  if  differences  arise  be- 
tween us  and  other  powers  they  may  be  settled 
by  peaceful  arbitration  and  that  hereafter  we 
may  be  spared  the  horrors  of  war. 

Intrusted  by  the  people  for  a  second  time 
with  the  office  of  President,  I  enter  upon  its 
administration  appreciating  the  great  responsi- 
bilities which  attach  to  this  renewed  honor  and 
commission,  promising  unreserved  devotion  on 
my  part  to  their  faithful  discharge  and  rever- 
ently invoking  for  my  guidance  the  direction 
and  favor  of  Almighty  God.  I  should  shrink 
from  the  duties  this  day  assumed  if  I  did  not 
feel  that  in  their  performance  I  should  have 
the  co-operation  of  the  wise  and  patriotic  men 
of  all  parties.  It  encourages  me  for  the  great 
task  which  I  now  undertake  to  believe  that 
those  who  voluntarily  committed  to  me  the 
trust  imposed  upon  the  Chief  Executive  of  the 
Republic  will  give  to  me  generous  support  in 
my  duties  to  "preserve,  protect,  and  defend 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States"  and  to 
"care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed." 

161 


The  national  purpose  is  indicated  through  a 
national  election.  It  is  the  constitutional 
method  of  ascertaining  the  public  will.  When 
once  it  is  registered  it  is  a  law  to  us  all,  and 
faithful  observance  should  follow  its  decrees. 
Strong  hearts  and  helpful  hands  are  needed, 
and,  fortunately,  we  have  them  in  every  part  of 
our  beloved  country.  We  are  reunited.  Sec- 
tionalism has  disappeared.  Division  on  public 
questions  can  no  longer  be  traced  by  the  war 
maps  of  1 86 1.  These  old  differences  less  and 
less  disturb  the  judgment.  Existing  problems 
demand  the  thought  and  quicken  the  conscience 
of  the  country,  and  the  responsibility  for  their 
presence  as  well  as  for  their  righteous  settle- 
ment rests  upon  us  all — no  more  upon  me  than 
upon  you.  There  are  some  national  questions 
in  the  solution  of  which  patriotism  should  ex- 
clude partisanship.  Magnifying  their  diffi- 
culties will  not  take  them  off  our  hands  nor 
facilitate  their  adjustment.  Distrust  of  the 
capacity,  integrity,  and  high  purposes  of  the 
American  people  will  not  be  an  inspiring  theme 
for  future  political  contests.  Dark  pictures 
and  gloomy  forebodings  are  worse  than  use- 
less. These  only  becloud,  they  do  not  help  to 
point,  the  way  of  safety  and  honor.  "Hope 
maketh  not  ashamed."  The  prophets  of  evil 
were  not  the  builders  of  the  Republic,  nor  in 
its  crises  since  have  they  saved  or  served  it. 
The  faith  of  the  fathers  was  a  mighty  force  in 
its  creation,  and  the  faith  of  their  descendants 

162 


has  wrought  its  progress  and  furnished  its 
defenders.  They  are  obstructionists  who 
despair  and  who  would  destroy  confidence  in 
the  ability  of  our  people  to  solve  wisely  and 
for  civilization  the  mighty  problems  resting 
upon  them.  The  American  people,  intrenched 
in  freedom  at  home,  take  their  love  for  it  with 
them  wherever  they  go,  and  they  reject  as  mis- 
taken and  unworthy  the  doctrine  that  we  lose 
our  own  liberties  by  securing  the  enduring 
foundations  of  liberty  to  others.  Our  insti- 
tutions will  not  deteriorate  by  extension,  and 
our  sense  of  justice  will  not  abate  under  tropic 
suns  in  distant  seas.  As  heretofore,  so  here- 
after will  the  nation  demonstrate  its  fitness  to 
administer  any  new  estate  which  events  devolve 
upon  it,  and  in  the  fear  of  God  will  "take 
occasion  by  the  hand  and  make  the  bounds  of 
freedom  wider  yet. ' '  If  there  are  those  among 
us  who  would  make  our  way  more  difficult,  we 
must  not  be  disheartened,  but  the  more  earn- 
estly dedicate  ourselves  to  the  task  upon  which 
we  have  rightly  entered.  The  path  of  progress 
is  seldom  smooth.  New  things  are  often 
found  hard  to  do.  Our  fathers  found  them 
so.  We  find  them  so.  They  are  inconve- 
nient. They  cost  us  something.  But  are  we 
not  made  better  for  the  effort  and  sacrifice, 
and  are  not  those  we  serve  lifted  up  and 
blessed? 

We  will  be  consoled,  too,  with  the  fact  that 
opposition  has  confronted  every  onward  move- 

163 


inaugural 


ment  of  the  Republic  from  its  opening  hour 
until  now,  but  without  success.  The  Repub- 
lic has  marched  on  and  on,  and  its  every  step 
has  exalted  freedom  and  humanity.  We  are 
undergoing  the  same  ordeal  as  did  our  prede- 
cessors nearly  a  century  ago.  We  are  follow- 
ing the  course  they  blazed.  They  triumphed. 
Will  their  successors  falter  and  plead  organic 
impotency  in  the  nation?  Surely  after  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  years  of  achievement 
for  mankind  we  will  not  now  surrender  our 
equality  with  other  powers  on  matters  funda- 
mental and  essential  to  nationality.  With  no 
such  purpose  was  the  nation  created.  In  no 
such  spirit  has  it  developed  its  full  and  inde- 
pendent sovereignty.  We  adhere  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  equality  among  ourselves,  and  by  no 
act  of  ours  will  we  assign  to  ourselves  a  sub- 
ordinate rank  in  the  family  of  nations. 

My  fellow-citizens,  the  public  events  of  the 
past  four  years  have  gone  into  history.  They 
are  too  near  to  justify  recital.  Some  of  them 
were  unforeseen;  many  of  them  momentous 
and  far-reaching  in  their  consequences  to  our- 
selves and  our  relations  with  the  rest  of  the 
world.  The  part  which  the  United  States  bore 
so  honorably  in  the  thrilling  scenes  in  China, 
while  new  to  American  life,  has  been  in  har- 
mony with  its  true  spirit  and  best  traditions, 
and  in  dealing  with  the  results  its  policy  will 
be  that  of  moderation  and  fairness. 

We  face  at  this  moment  a  most  important 
164 


U&illiam 


question — that  of  the  future  relations  of  the 
United  States  and  Cuba.  With  our  near 
neighbors  we  must  remain  close  friends.  The 
declaration  of  the  purposes  of  this  Government 
in  the  resolution  of  April  2O,  1898,  must  be 
made  good.  Ever  since  the  evacuation  of  the 
island  by  the  army  of  Spain  the  Executive 
with  all  practicable  speed,  has  been  assisting 
its  people  in  the  successive  steps  necessary  to 
the  establishment  of  a  free  and  independent 
government  prepared  to  assume  and  perform 
the  obligations  of  international  law  which  now 
rest  upon  the  United  States  under  the  Treaty 
of  Paris.  The  convention  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple to  frame  a  constitution  is  approaching  the 
completion  of  its  labors.  The  transfer  of 
American  control  to  the  new  government  is  of 
such  great  importance,  involving  an  obligation 
resulting  from  our  intervention  and  the  Treaty 
of  Peace,  that  I  am  glad  to  be  advised  by  the 
recent  act  of  Congress  of  the  policy  which  the 
legislative  branch  of  the  Government  deems 
essential  to  the  best  interests  of  Cuba  and  the 
United  States.  The  principles  which  led  to 
our  intervention  require  that  the  fundamental 
law  upon  which  the  new  government  rests 
should  be  adapted  to  secure  a  government 
capable  of  performing  the  duties  and  dischar- 
ging the  functions  of  a  separate  nation,  of 
observing  its  international  obligations  of  pro- 
tecting life  and  property,  insuring  order,  safety, 
and  liberty,  and  conforming  to  the  established 

165 


inaugural  &&Dreg£e£ 


and  historical  policy  of  the  United  States  in 
its  relation  to  Cuba. 

The  peace  which  we  are  pledged  to  leave  to 
the  Cuban  people  must  carry  with  it  the  guar- 
anties of  permanence.  We  became  sponsors 
for  the  pacification  of  the  island,  and  we 
remain  accountable  to  the  Cubans,  no  less 
than  to  our  own  country  and  people,  for  the 
reconstruction  of  Cuba  as  a  free  commonwealth 
on  abiding  foundations  of  right,  justice,  lib- 
erty, and  assured  order.  Our  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  people  will  not  be  completed  until 
free  Cuba  shall  "be  a  reality,  not  a  name;  a 
perfect  entity,  not  a  hasty  experiment  bearing 
within  itself  the  elements  of  failure." 

While  the  Treaty  of  Peace  with  Spain  was 
ratified  on  the  6th  of  February,  1899,  and 
ratifications  were  exchanged  nearly  two  years 
ago,  the  Congress  has  indicated  no  form  of 
government  for  the  Philippine  Islands.  It 
has,  however,  provided  an  army  to  enable  the 
Executive  to  suppress  insurrection,  restore 
peace,  give  security  to  the  inhabitants,  and 
establish  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
throughout  the  archipelago.  It  has  author- 
ized the  organization  of  native  troops  as  auxil- 
iary to  the  regular  force.  It  has  been  advised 
from  time  to  time  of  the  acts  of  the  military 
and  naval  officers  in  the  islands,  of  my  action 
in  appointing  civil  commissioners,  of  the  in- 
structions with  which  they  were  charged,  of 
their  duties  and  powers,  of  their  recommenda- 
166 


HDiHiam 


tions,  and  of  their  several  acts  under  Executive 
commission,  together  with  the  very  complete 
general  information  they  have  submitted. 
These  reports  fully  set  forth  the  conditions, 
past  and  present,  in  the  islands,  and  the  in- 
structions clearly  show  the  principles  which 
will  guide  the  Executive  until  the  Congress 
shall,  as  it  is  required  to  do  by  the  treaty, 
determine  "the  civil  rights  and  political  status 
of  the  native  inhabitants."  The  Congress 
having  added  the  sanction  of  its  authority  to 
the  powers  already  possessed  and  exercised  by 
the  Executive  under  the  Constitution,  thereby 
leaving  with  the  Executive  the  responsibility 
for  the  government  of  the  Philippines,  I  shall 
continue  the  efforts  already  begun  until  order 
shall  be  restored  throughout  the  islands,  and 
as  fast  as  conditions  permit  will  establish  local 
governments,  in  the  formation  of  which  the 
full  co-operation  of  the  people  has  been  already 
invited,  and  when  established  will  encourage 
the  people  to  administer  them.  The  settled 
purpose,  long  ago  proclaimed,  to  afford  the 
inhabitants  of  the  islands  self-government  as 
fast  as  they  were  ready  for  it  will  be  pursued 
with  earnestness  and  fidelity.  Already  some- 
thing has  been  accomplished  in  this  direction. 
The  Government's  representatives,  civil  and 
military,  are  doing  faithful  and  noble  work  in 
their  mission  of  emancipation  and  merit  the 
approval  and  support  of  their  countrymen. 
The  most  liberal  terms  of  amnesty  have 

167 


inaugural 


already  been  communicated  to  the  insurgents, 
and  the  way  is  still  open  for  those  who  have 
raised  their  arms  against  the  Government  for 
honorable  submission  to  its  authority.  Our 
countrymen  should  not  be  deceived.  We  are 
not  waging  war  against  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Philippine  Islands.  A  portion  of  them  are 
making  war  against  the  United  States.  By 
far  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  recog- 
nize American  sovereignty  and  welcome  it  as 
a  guaranty  of  order  and  of  security  for  life, 
property,  liberty,  freedom  of  conscience,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  To  them  full  pro- 
tection will  be  given.  They  shall  not  be  aban- 
doned. We  will  not  leave  the  destiny  of  the 
loyal  millions  in  the  islands  to  the  disloyal 
thousands  who  are  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States.  Order  under  civil  institutions 
will  come  as  soon  as  those  who  now  break  the 
peace  shall  keep  it.  Force  will  not  be  needed 
or  used  when  those  who  make  war  against  us 
shall  make  it  no  more.  May  it  end  without 
further  bloodshed,  and  there  be  ushered  in  the 
reign  of  peace  to  be  made  permanent  by  a 
government  of  liberty  under  law! 
March  4,  1901. 


168 


CIjeoDore 


npHEODORE  ROOSEVELT  became 
President  of  the  United  States  imme- 
diately after  the  death  of  William  Mc- 
Kinley.  He  took  the  oath  of  office  in  the 
small  library  in  the  old  colonial  residence  of 
Ansley  Wilcox,  at  No.  641  Delaware  Avenue, 
Buffalo,  at  3:35  p.  M.,  September  14,  1901. 
Before  taking  the  oath  of  office  Mr.  Roosevelt 
made  the  following  statement,  according  to 
the  New  York  Tribune  of  September  15. 

"I  wish  to  state  that  it  shall  be  my  aim  to 
continue  absolutely  unbroken  the  policy  of 
President  McKinley  for  the  peace,  prosperity, 
and  honor  of  our  beloved  country." 


169 


Koogefcelt 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  No  peo- 
ple on  earth  have  more  cause  to  be 
thankful  than  ours,  and  this  is  said 
reverently,  in  no  spirit  of  boastfulness  in  our 
own  strength,  but  with  gratitude  to  the  Giver 
of  Good  who  has  blessed  us  with  the  conditions 
which  have  enabled  us  to  achieve  so  large  a 
measure  of  well-being  and  of  happiness.  To 
us  as  a  people  it  has  been  granted  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  our  national  life  in  a  new  con- 
tinent. We  are  the  heirs  of  the  ages,  and  yet 
we  have  had  to  pay  few  of  the  penalties  which 
in  old  countries  are  exacted  by  the  dead  hand 
of  a  bygone  civilization.  We  have  not  been 
obliged  to  fight  for  our  existence  against  any 
alien  race ;  and  yet  our  life  has  called  for  the 
vigor  and  effort  without  which  the  manlier 
and  hardier  virtues  wither  away.  Under  such 
conditions  it  would  be  our  own  fault  if  we 
failed;  and  the  success  which  we  have  had  in 
the  past,  the  success  which  we  confidently 
believe  the  future  will  bring,  should  cause  in 
us  no  feeling  of  vainglory,  but  rather  a  deep 
and  abiding  realization  of  all  which  life  has 
offered  us;  a  full  acknowledgment  of  the 

171 


inaugural 


responsibility  which  is  ours;  and  a  fixed 
determination  to  show  that  under  a  free  gov- 
ernment a  mighty  people  can  thrive  best,  alike 
as  regards  the  things  of  the  body  and  the 
things  of  the  soul. 

Much  has  been  given  to  us,  and  much  will 
rightfully  be  expected  from  us.  We  have 
duties  to  others  and  duties  to  ourselves;  and 
we  can  shirk  neither.  We  have  become  a 
great  nation,  forced  by  the  fact  of  its  great- 
ness into  relations  with  the  other  nations  of 
the  earth,  and  we  must  behave  as  beseems  a 
people  with  such  responsibilities.  Toward  all 
other  nations,  large  and  small,  our  attitude 
must  be  one  of  cordial  and  sincere  friendship. 
We  must  show  not  only  in  our  words,  but  in 
our  deeds,  that  we  are  earnestly  desirous  of 
securing  their  good  will  by  acting  toward  them 
in  a  spirit  of  just  and  generous  recognition  of 
all  their  rights.  But  justice  and  generosity  in 
a  nation,  as  in  an  individual,  count  most  when 
shown  not  by  the  weak  but  by  the  strong. 
While  ever  careful  to  refrain  from  wronging 
others,  we  must  be  no  less  insistent  that  we 
are  not  wronged  ourselves.  We  wish  peace, 
but  we  wish  the  peace  of  justice,  the  peace  of 
righteousness.  We  wish  it  because  we  think 
it  is  right  and  not  because  we  are  afraid.  No 
weak  nation  that  acts  manfully  and  justly 
should  ever  have  cause  to  fear  us,  and  no 
strong  power  should  ever  be  able  to  single  us 
out  as  a  subject  for  insolent  aggression. 

172 


Our  relations  with  the  other  powers  of  the 
world  are  important;  but  still  more  important 
are  our  relations  among  ourselves.  Such 
growth  in  wealth,  in  population,  and  in  power 
as  this  nation  has  seen  during  the  century  and 
a  quarter  of  its  national  life  is  inevitably  ac- 
companied by  a  like  growth  in  the  problems 
which  are  ever  before  every  nation  that  rises 
to  greatness.  Power  invariably  means  both 
responsibility  and  danger.  Our  forefathers 
faced  certain  perils  which  we  have  outgrown. 
We  now  face  other  perils,  the  very  existence 
of  which  it  was  impossible  that  they  should 
foresee.  Modern  life  is  both  complex  and 
intense,  and  the  tremendous  changes  wrought 
by  the  extraordinary  industrial  development  of 
the  last  half-century  are  felt  in  every  fiber  of 
our  social  and  political  being.  Never  before 
have  men  tried  so  vast  and  formidable  an 
experiment  as  that  of  administering  the  affairs 
of  a  continent  under  the  form  of  a  Demo- 
cratic republic.  The  conditions  which  have 
told  for  our  marvelous  material  well-being, 
which  have  developed  to  a  very  high  degree 
our  energy,  self-reliance,  and  individual  initi- 
ative, have  also  brought  the  care  and  anxiety 
inseparable  from  the  accumulation  of  great 
wealth  in  industrial  centers.  Upon  the  suc- 
cess of  our  experiment  much  depends,  not  only 
as  regards  our  own  welfare,  but  as  regards  the 
welfare  of  mankind.  If  we  fail,  the  cause  of 
free  self-government  throughout  the  world  will 

i73 


inaugural 


rock  to  its  foundations,  and  therefore  our 
responsibility  is  heavy,  to  ourselves,  to  the 
world  as  it  is  to-day,  and  to  the  generations 
yet  unborn.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  we 
should  fear  the  future,  but  there  is  every  rea- 
son why  we  should  face  it  seriously,  neither 
hiding  from  ourselves  the  gravity  of  the  prob- 
lems before  us  nor  fearing  to  approach  these 
problems  with  the  unbending,  unflinching  pur- 
pose to  solve  them  aright. 

Yet,  after  all,  though  the  problems  are  new, 
though  the  tasks  set  before  us  differ  from  the 
tasks  set  before  our  fathers  who  founded  and 
preserved  this  Republic,  the  spirit  in  which 
these  tasks  must  be  undertaken  and  these 
problems  faced,  if  our  duty  is  to  be  well  done, 
remains  essentially  unchanged.  We  know  that 
self-government  is  difficult.  We  know  that 
no  people  needs  such  high  traits  of  character 
as  that  people  which  seeks  to  govern  its  affairs 
aright  through  the  freely  expressed  will  of  the 
freemen  who  compose  it.  But  we  have  faith 
that  we  shall  not  prove  false  to  the  memories 
of  the  men  of  the  mighty  past.  They  did  their 
work,  they  left  us  the  splendid  heritage  we 
now  enjoy.  We  in  our  turn  have  an  assured 
confidence  that  we  shall  be  able  to  leave  this 
heritage  unwasted  and  enlarged  to  our  children 
and  our  children's  children.  To  do  so  we 
must  show,  not  merely  in  great  crises,  but  in 
the  everyday  affairs  of  life,  the  qualities  of 
practical  intelligence,  of  courage,  of  hardihood, 

'74 


€f)cotiore 


and  endurance,  and  above  all  the  power  of 
devotion  to  a  lofty  ideal,  which  made  great  the 
men  who  founded  this  Republic  in  the  days  of 
Washington,  which  made  great  the  men  who 
preserved  this  Republic  in  the  days  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

March  4,  1905. 


175 


Constitution  of  the  United  States 
1787 


177 


Constitution  of  the  Unitcfc 
1787 


WE  THE  PEOPLE  of  the  United  States, 
in  Order  to   form   a   more   perfect 
Union,  establish  Justice,  insure  domes- 
tic Tranquility,  provide  for  the  common  defence, 
promote  the  general  Welfare,  and  secure  the 
Blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  Pos- 
terity, do  ordain  and  establish  this  CONSTITU- 
TION for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I 

SECTION  I 

I.  All  legislative  Powers  herein  granted 
shall  be  vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives. 

SECTION  II 

1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be 
composed  of   Members  chosen  every  second 
Year  by  the  People  of  the  several  States,  and 
the    Electors   in   each   State    shall    have   the 
Qualifications   requisite   for   Electors   of   the 
most  numerous  Branch  of  the  State  Legisla- 
ture. 

2.  No   Person   shall   be   a    Representative 
who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  Age  of 

179 


Constitution  of  tlic 


twenty-five  Years,  and  been  seven  Years  a 
Citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall 
not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant  of  that 
State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

3.  Representatives  and  direct  Taxes  shall 
be  apportioned  among  the  several  States  which 
may  be  included  within  this  Union,  according 
to  their  respective  Numbers,  which  shall  be 
determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  Number  of 
free  Persons,  including  those  bound  to  Service 
for  a  Term  of  Years,  and  excluding  Indians 
not  taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  other  Persons. 
The  actual  Enumeration  shall  be  made  within 
three  Years  after  the  first  Meeting  of  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  and  within  every 
subsequent  Term  of  ten  Years,  in  such  Man- 
ner as  they  shall  by  Law  direct.     The  Num- 
ber of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one 
for   every  thirty   Thousand,    but   each  State 
shall  have  at  Least  one  Representative;  and 
until   such  enumeration    shall   be    made,    the 
State   of   New   Hampshire   shall   be   entitled 
to  chuse  three,  Massachusetts  eight,  Rhode- 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations  one,  Con- 
necticut five,  New- York  six,  New  Jersey  four, 
Pennsylvania  eight,   Delaware  one,   Maryland 
six,  Virginia  ten,  North  Carolina  five,  South 
Carolina  five,  and  Georgia  three. 

4.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  Repre- 
sentation   from    any    State,     the    Executive 
Authority  thereof  shall  issue  Writs  of  Elec- 
tion to  fill  such  Vacancies. 

180 


— 1787 


5.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall 
chuse  their  Speaker  and  other  Officers;  and 
shall  have  the  sole  Power  of  Impeachment. 

SECTION  HI 

1.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall 
be    composed    of   two    Senators    from    each 
State,    chosen    by   the    Legislature   thereof, 
for   six  Years;  and  each  Senator  shall  have 
one  Vote. 

2.  Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assem- 
bled in  Consequence  of  the  first  Election,  they 
shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three 
Classes.    The  Seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first 
Class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  Expiration  of  the 
second  year,  of  the  second  Class  at  the  Ex- 
piration of  the  fourth  Year,  and  of  the  third 
Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the  sixth  Year,  so 
that  one-third    may  be  chosen  every  second 
Year;  and  if  Vacancies  happen  by  Resigna- 
tion, or  otherwise,  during  the  Recess  of  the 
Legislature  of  any  State,  the  Executive  thereof 
may  make  temporary  Appointments  until  the 
next  Meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which  shall 
then  fill  such  Vacancies. 

3.  No  Person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall 
not  have  attained  to  the  Age  of  thirty  Years, 
and  been  nine  Years  a  Citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  who  shall  not,   when  elected,  be 
an  Inhabitant  of  that  State  for  which  he  shall 
be  chosen. 

4.  The  Vice  President  of  the  United  States 

181 


Constitution  of  tljc 


shall  be  President  of  the  Senate,  but  shall  have 
no  Vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

5.  The  Senate  shall  chuse  their  other  Offi- 
cers, and  also  a  President  pro  tempore,  in  the 
Absence  of  the  Vice  President,  or  when  he 
shall  exercise  the  Office  of  President  of  the 
United  States. 

6.  The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  Power  to 
try  all  Impeachments.     When  sitting  for  that 
Purpose,  they  shall  be  on  Oath  or  Affirmation. 
When  the  President  of  the  United  States  is 
tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall   preside:    And 
no   Person   shall   be    convicted   without    the 
Concurrence   of  two  thirds  of  the  Members 
present. 

7.  Judgment  in  Cases  of  Impeachment  shall 
not  extend  further  than  to  removal  from  Office, 
and   disqualification   to   hold   and   enjoy  any 
Office  of  honor,   Trust   or  Profit   under  the 
United  States:  but  the  Party  convicted  shall 
nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to  Indict- 
ment, Trial,  Judgment  and  Punishment,  ac- 
cording to  Law. 

SECTION  IV 

I .  The  Times,  Places  and  Manner  of  hold- 
ing Elections  for  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives, shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the 
Legislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at 
any  time  by  Law  make  or  alter  such  Regu- 
lations, except  as  to  the  Places  of  chusing 
Senators. 

182 


1787 


2.  The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least 
once  in  every  Year,  and  such  Meeting  shall  be 
on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they 
shall  by  Law  appoint  a  different  Day. 

SECTION  v 

1.  Each  House  shall  be  the  Judge  of  the 
Electicns,   Returns  and  Qualifications  of   its 
own  Members,  and  a  Majority  of  each  shall 
constitute  a  Quorum  to  do  Business;  but  a 
smaller  Number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day, 
and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  Attend- 
ance of  absent  Members,  in  such  Manner,  and 
under  such  Penalties  as  each  House  may  pro- 
vide. 

2 .  Each  House  may  determine  the  Rules  of 
its  Proceedings,  punish  its  Members  for  dis- 
orderly Behavior,  and,  with  the  Concurrence 
of  two  thirds,  expel  a  Member. 

3.  Each  House  shall  keep  a  Journal  of  its 
Proceedings,  and  from  time  to  time  publish  the 
same,  excepting  such  Parts  as  may  in  their 
Judgment  require  Secrecy;  and  the  Yeas  and 
Nays  of  the  Members  of  either  House  on  any 
question  shall,  at  the  Desire  of  one  fifth  of 
those  present,  be  entered  on  the  Journal. 

4.  Neither  House,   during  the  Session  of 
Congress,  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the 
other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor 
to  any  other  Place  than  that  in  which  the  two 
Houses  shall  be  sitting. 

183 


Constitution  of  tf)e 


SECTION  VI 

1.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall 
receive  a  Compensation  for  their  Services,  to 
be  ascertained  by  Law,  and  paid  out  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States.     They  shall 
in   all    Cases,    except   Treason,    Felony   and 
Breach  of  the  Peace,  be  privileged  from  Arrest 
during  their  Attendance  at  the  Session  of  their 
respective  Houses,  and  in  going  to  and  return- 
ing from  the  same;    and  for  any  Speech  or 
Debate   in  either   House,   they  shall   not  be 
questioned  in  any  other  Place. 

2 .  No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  dur- 
ing the  Time  for  which  he  was  elected,  be  ap- 
pointed to  any  civil  Office  under  the  Authority 
of  the  United  States,  which  shall  have  been 
created,    or   the    Emoluments   whereof   shall 
have  been  encreased  during  such  time;  and  no 
Person  holding  any  Office  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  a  Member  of  either  House 
during  his  Continuance  in  Office. 

SECTION  VII 

1 .  All  Bills  for  raising  Revenue  shall  origi- 
nate in  the  House  of  Representatives;  but  the 
Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with  Amend- 
ments as  on  other  Bills. 

2.  Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed  the 
House   of   Representatives   and   the   Senate, 
shall,  before  it  become  a  Law,  be  presented 

184 


ftniteti  £tate0— 1787 


to  the  President  of  the  United  States;  If  he 
approve  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall 
return  it,  with  his  Objections  to  that  House  in 
which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter 
the  Objections  at  large  on  their  Journal,  and 
proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If  after  such  Recon- 
sideration two  thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree 
to  pass  the  Bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with 
the  Objections,  to  the  other  House,  by  which 
it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  ap- 
proved by  two  thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall 
become  a  Law.  But  in  all  such  Cases  the 
Votes  of  both  Houses  shall  be  determined  by 
Yeas  and  Nays,  and  the  Names  of  the  Persons 
voting  for  and  against  the  Bill  shall  be  entered 
on  the  Journal  of  each  House  respectively.  If 
any  Bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President 
within  ten  Days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it 
shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  Same 
shall  be  a  Law,  in  like  Manner  as  if  he  had 
signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  Ad- 
journment prevent  its  Return,  in  which  Case 
it  shall  not  be  a  Law. 

3.  Every  Order,  Resolution,  or  Vote  to 
which  the  Concurrence  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary 
(except  on  a  question  of  Adjournment)  shall 
be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States;  and  before  the  Same  shall  take  Effect, 
shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disapproved 
by  him,  shall  be  repassed  by  two  thirds  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  accord- 

185 


Constitution  of  tfje 


ing  to  the  Rules  and  Limitations  prescribed  in 
the  Case  of  a  Bill. 

SECTION  vm 

1 .  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  To  lay 
and  collect  Taxes,  Duties,  Imposts  and  Ex- 
cises, to  pay  the  Debts  and  provide  for  the 
common  Defence  and  general  Welfare  of  the 
United  States;  but  all  Duties,    Imposts  and 
Excises    shall    be    uniform    throughout    the 
United  States; 

2.  To  borrow  Money  on  the  credit  of  the 
United  States; 

3 .  To  regulate  Commerce  with  foreign  Na- 
tions, and  among  the  several  States,  and  with 
the  Indian  Tribes; 

4.  To  establish  an  uniform  Rule  of  Naturali- 
zation, and  uniform  Laws  on  the  subject  of 
Bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States; 

5.  To    coin    Money,    regulate    the   Value 
thereof,    and   of   foreign   Coin,    and   fix   the 
Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures; 

6.  To  provide  for  the  Punishment  of  coun- 
terfeiting the  Securities  and  current  Coin  of 
the  United  States; 

7 .  To  establish  Post  Offices  and  post  Roads ; 

8.  To  promote  the  Progress  of  Science  and 
useful  Arts,  by  securing  for  limited  Times  to 
Authors  and  Inventors  the  exclusive  Right  to 
their  respective  Writings  and  Discoveries; 

9.  To  constitute  Tribunals  inferior  to  the 
supreme  Court; 

1 86 


— 1787 


10.  To   define    and    punish   Piracies    and 
Felonies  committed  on   the   high   Seas,   and 
Offences  against  the  Law  of  Nations; 

11.  To    declare    War,   grant    Letters    of 
Marque  and  Reprisal,  and  make  Rules  con- 
cerning Captures  on  Land  and  Water; 

12.  To  raise  and  support  Armies,  but  no 
Appropriation  of  Money  to  that  Use  shall  be 
for  a  longer  Termjthan  two  Years; 

13.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  Navy; 

14.  To  make  Rules  for  the  Government 
and  Regulation  of  the  land  and  naval  Forces; 

15.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia 
to  execute  the  Laws  of  the  Union,  suppress 
Insurrections  and  repel  Invasions; 

16.  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and 
disciplining,  the  Militia,  and  for  governing  such 
Part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  Ser- 
vice of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the 
States  respectively,  the  Appointment  of  the 
Officers,   and   the  Authority  of   training  the 
Militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed 
by  Congress; 

17.  To  exercise  exclusive  Legislation  in  all 
Cases  whatsoever,  over  such  District  (not  ex- 
ceeding ten  Miles  square)  as  may,  by  Cession 
of  particular  States,   and  the  Acceptance  of 
Congress,  become  the  Seat  of  the  Government 
of  the   United   States,  and  to  exercise  like 
Authority  over  all  Places  purchased  by  the 
Consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in 
which  the  Same  shall  be,  for  the  Erection  of 

187 


Constitution  of  rlje 


Forts,  Magazines,  Arsenals,  dock- Yards,  and 
other  needful  Buildings; — And 

1 8.  To  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be 
necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  Exe- 
cution the  foregoing  Powers,  and  all  other 
Powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any 
Department  or  Officer  thereof. 

SECTION  IX 

1.  The  Migration  or  Importation  of  such 
Persons  as  any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall 
think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited 
by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  Year  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a  Tax  or 
duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  Importation, 
not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  Person. 

2.  The  privilege  of  the  Writ  of   Habeas 
Corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when 
in  Cases  of  Rebellion  or  Invasion  the  public 
Safety  may  require  it. 

3.  No  Bill  of  Attainder  or  ex  post  facto 
Law  shall  be  passed. 

4.  No  Capitation,  or  other  direct,  tax  shall 
be  laid,  unless  in  Proportion  to  the  Census  or 
Enumeration   herein    before   directed    to   be 
taken. 

5.  No  Tax  or  Duty  shall  be  laid  on  Articles 
exported  from  any  State. 

6.  No  Preference  shall   be  given  by  any 
Regulation  of  Commerce  or  Revenue  to  the 
Ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another:  nor 

1 88 


ftnitefc  cS>tate£— 1787 


shall  Vessels  bound  to,  or  from,  one  State,  be 
obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  Duties  in 
another. 

7.  No   Money   shall    be   drawn   from   the 
Treasury,  but  in  Consequence  of  Appropria- 
tions made  by  Law;  and  a  regular  Statement 
and  Account  of  the  Receipts  and  Expenditures 
of  all  public  Money  shall  be  published  from 
time  to  time. 

8.  No  Title  of  Nobility  shall  be  granted  by 
the  United  States:    And  no   Person  holding 
any  Office  of   Profit  or  Trust   under   them, 
shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress, 
accept  of  any  present,  Emolument,  Office,  or 
Title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  King, 
Prince,  or  foreign  State. 

SECTION  x 

1.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  Treaty, 
Alliance,  or  Confederation;  grant  Letters  of 
Marque  and  Reprisal;  coin  Money;  emit  Bills 
of  Credit;  make  any  Thing  but  gold  and  silver 
Coin  a  Tender  in  Payment  of  Debts;  pass  any 
Bill  of  Attainder,  ex  post  facto  Law,  or  Law 
impairing    the   Obligation    of   Contracts,    or 
grant  any  Title  of  Nobility. 

2.  No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of 
the  Congress,  lay  any  Imposts  or  Duties  on 
Imports  or  Exports,  except  what  may  be  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  executing  it's  inspection 
Laws :  and  the  net  Produce  of  all  Duties  and 
Imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  Imports  or  Ex- 

189 


Constitution  of  tf)e 


ports,  shall  be  for  the  Use  of  the  Treasury  of 
the  United  States;  and  all  such  Laws  shall  be 
subject  to  the  Revision  and  Controul  of  the 
Congress. 

3.  No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of 
Congress,  lay  any  Duty  of  Tonnage,  keep 
Troops,  or  Ships  of  War  in  time  of  Peace, 
enter  into  any  Agreement  or  Compact  with 
another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or 
engage  in  War,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in 
such  imminent  Danger  as  will  not  admit  of 
delay. 

ARTICLE  II* 

SECTION  I 

1.  The  executive  Power  shall  be  vested  in 
a  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
He  shall  hold  his  Office  during  the  Term  of 
four  Years,  and,  together  with  the  Vice  Presi- 
dent, chosen  for  the  same  Term,  be  elected,  as 
follows 

2.  Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  Man- 
ner as  the  Legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a 

*  "The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and 
vote  by  ballot  for  two  Persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not 
be  an  Inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves.  And  they 
shall  make  a  List  of  all  the  Persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  Num- 
ber of  Votes  for  each;  which  List  they  shall  sign  and  certify, 
and  transmit  sealed  to  the  Seat  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The 
President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  Presence  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  Certificates,  and 
the  Votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  Person  having  the 
greatest  Number  of  Votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  Num- 
ber be  a  Majority  of  the  whole  Number  of  Electors  appointed; 
and  if  there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such  Majority,  and 
have  an  equal  Number  of  Votes,  then  the  House  of  Represent- 

190 


ftniteti  £tate0— 1787 


Number  of  Electors,  equal  to  the  whole  Num- 
ber of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which 
the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress: 
but  no  Senator  or  Representative,  or  Person 
holding  an  Office  of  Trust  or  Profit  under 
the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an 
Elector. 

3.  The  Congress  may  determine  the  Time 
of  chusing  the  Electors,  and  the  Day  on  which 
they  shall  give  their  Votes;  which  Day  shall 
be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 

4.  No  Person  except  a  natural  born  Citizen, 
or  a  Citizen  of  the  United  States,  at  the  time 
of  the  Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be 
eligible  to   the   Office  of  President;    neither 
shall  any  Person  be  eligible  to  that  Office  who 
shall  not  have  attained  to  the  Age  of  thirty- 
five  Years,  and  been  fourteen  Years  a  Resident 
within  the  United  States. 

5.  In  case  of  the  Removal  of  the  President 
from  Office,  or  of  his  Death,  Resignation,  or 
Inability  to  discharge  the  Powers  and  Duties 
of  the  said  Office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on 

atives  shall  immediately  chuse  by  Ballot  one  of  them  for  Presi- 
dent; and  if  no  Person  have  a  Majority,  then  from  the  five 
highest  on  the  List  the  said  House  shall  in  like  Manner  chuse 
the  President.  But  in  chusing  the  President,  the  Votes  shall 
be  taken  by  States,  the  Representation  from  each  State  having 
one  Vote;  A  quorum  for  this  Purpose  shall  consist  of  a  Mem- 
ber or  Members  from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  Majority 
of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  Choice.  In  every  Case, 
after  the  Choice  of  the  President,  the  Person  having  the 
greatest  Number  of  Votes  of  the  Electors  shall  be  the  Vice 
President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have 
equal  Votes,  the  Senate  shall  chuse  from  them  by  Ballot  the 
Vice-President."  This  clause  has  been  superseded  by  the 
twelfth  amendment. 


Constitution  of  tfte 


the  Vice  President,  and  the  Congress  may  by 
Law  provide  for  the  Case  of  Removal,  Death, 
Resignation,  or  Inability,  both  of  the  President 
and  Vice  President,  declaring  what  Officer 
shall  then  act  as  President,  and  such  Officer 
shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  Disability  be 
removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

6.  The  President    shall,  at  stated    Times, 
receive   for    his    Services,    a    Compensation, 
which  shall  neither  be  encreased  nor  diminished 
during  the  Period  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that 
Period  any  other  Emolument  from  the  United 
States,  or  any  of  them. 

7.  Before  he  enter  on  the  Execution  of  his 
Office,  he  shall  take  the  following  Oath  or 
Affirmation: — "I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm) 
that    I   will   faithfully  execute    the   Office   of 
President  of   the  United   States,  and  will  to 
the  best  of  my  Ability,  preserve,  protect  and 
defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

SECTION  II 

I.  The  President  shall  be  Commander  in 
Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  the  Militia  of  the  several  States, 
when  called  into  the  actual  Service  of  the 
United  States ;  he  may  require  the  Opinion,  in 
writing,  of  the  principal  Officer  in  each  of  the 
executive  Departments,  upon  any  Subject  re- 
lating to  the  Duties  of  their  respective  Offices, 
and  he  shall  have  Power  to  grant  Reprieves 
192 


— 1787 


and  Pardons  for  Offences  against  the  United 
States,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment. 

2.  He  shall  have  Power,  by  and  with  the 
Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Senate,  to  make 
Treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  Senators 
present  concur;   and  he  shall  nominate,   and 
by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the 
Senate,    shall    appoint    Ambassadors,    other 
public  Ministers  and  Consuls,  Judges  of  the 
supreme  Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the 
United  States,  whose  Appointments  are  not 
herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall 
be  established  by  Law:  but  the  Congress  may 
by  Law  vest  the  Appointment  of  such  inferior 
Officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President 
alone,  in  the  Courts  of  Law,  or  in  the  Heads 
of  Departments. 

3 .  The  President  shall  have  Power  to  fill  up 
all   Vacancies   that   may  happen   during   the 
Recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  Commissions 
which  shall  expire  at  the  End  of  their  next 
Session. 

SECTION  III 

I .  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the 
Congress  Information  of  the  State  of  the 
Union,  and  recommend  to  their  Consideration 
such  Measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and 
expedient;  he  may,  on  extraordinary  Occa- 
sions, convene  both  Houses,  or  either  of  them, 
and  in  Case  of  Disagreement  between  them, 
with  Respect  to  the  Time  of  Adjournment,  he 
may  adjourn  them  to  such  Time  as  he  shall 

193 


Constitution  of  tf)e 


think  proper;  he  shall  receive  Ambassadors 
and  other  public  Ministers;  he  shall  take  Care 
that  the  Laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall 
Commission  all  the  Officers  of  the  United 
States. 

SECTION  IV 

I.  The  President,  Vice  President  and  all 
civil  Officers  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
removed  from  Office  on  Impeachment  for,  and 
Conviction  of,  Treason,  Bribery,  or  other  high 
Crimes  and  Misdemeanors. 


ARTICLE  III 

SECTION  I 

I .  The  judicial  Power  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  vested  in  one  supreme  Court,  and  in 
such  inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress  may 
from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The 
Judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior 
Courts,  shall  hold  their  Offices  during  good 
Behaviour,  and  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive 
for  their  Services,  a  Compensation,  which 
shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  Continu- 
ance in  Office. 

SECTION  n 

i.    The  judicial  Power  shall  extend  to  all 

Cases,  in  Law  and  Equity,  arising  under  this 

Constitution,  the  Laws  of  the  United  States, 

and  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 

194 


— 1787 


under  their  Authority; — to  all  Cases  affecting 
Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Con- 
suls;— to  all  Cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime 
Jurisdiction; — to  Controversies  to  which  the 
United  States  shall  be  a  Party; — to  Controver- 
sies between  two  or  more  States; — between  a 
State  and  Citizens  of  another  State ; — between 
Citizens  of  different  States, — between  Citizens 
of  the  same  State  claiming  Lands  under  Grants 
of  different  States,  and  between  a  State,  or 
the  Citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  States,  Citi- 
zens or  Subjects. 

2.  In    all    Cases    affecting  Ambassadors, 
other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls,  and  those 
in  which  a  State  shall  be  Party,  the  supreme 
Court  shall  have  original  Jurisdiction.     In  all 
the  other  Cases  before  mentioned,  the  supreme 
Court  shall  have  appellate  Jurisdiction,  both 
as  to  Law  and  Fact,  with  such  Exceptions, 
and  under  such  Regulations  as  the  Congress 
shall  make. 

3 .  The  Trial  of  all  Crimes,  except  in  Cases 
of  Impeachment,  shall  be  by  Jury;  and  such 
Trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said 
Crimes  shall  have  been  committed;  but  when 
not   committed  within   any  State,   the   Trial 
shall  be  at  such  Place  or  Places  as  the  Con- 
gress may  by  Law  have  directed. 

SECTION  III 

I.    Treason  against  the  United  States,  shall 
consist  only  in  levying  War  against  them,  or 


Constitution  of 


in  adhering  to  their  Enemies,  giving  them  Aid 
and  Comfort.  No  Person  shall  be  convicted 
of  Treason  unless  on  the  Testimony  of  two 
Witnesses  to  the  same  overt  Act,  or  on  Con- 
fession in  open  Court. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  de- 
clare the  Punishment  of  Treason,  but  no 
Attainder  of  Treason  shall  work  Corruption 
of  Blood,  or  Forfeiture  except  during  the  Life 
of  the  Person  attainted. 

ARTICLE  IV 

SECTION  I 

I.  Full  Faith  and  Credit  shall  be  given  in 
each  State  to  the  public  Acts,  Records,  and 
judicial  Proceedings  of  every  other  State. 
And  the  Congress  may  by  general  Laws  pre- 
scribe the  Manner  in  which  such  Acts,  Rec- 
ords and  Proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and 
the  Effect  thereof. 

SECTION  II 

1.  The  Citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  en- 
titled to  all  Privileges  and  Immunities  of  Citi- 
zens in  the  several  States. 

2.  A  person   charged   in   any  State    with 
Treason,   Felony,  or  other  Crime,  who  shall 
flee  from  Justice,    and  be   found  in  another 
State,    shall    on    Demand   of    the    executive 
Authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be 

196 


ftniteti  J>tate£— 1787 


delivered  up  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having 
Jurisdiction  of  the  Crime. 

3.  No  Person  held  to  Service  or  Labour  in 
one  State,  under  the  Laws  thereof,  escaping 
into  another,  shall,  in  Consequence  of  any 
Law  or  Regulation  therein,  be  discharged 
from  such  Service  or  Labour,  but  shall  be  de- 
livered up  on  Claim  of  the  Party  to  whom 
such  Service  or  Labour  may  be  due. 

SECTION  III 

1.  New  States   may  be  admitted   by  the 
Congress  into  this  Union;  but  no  new  State 
shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  Jurisdic- 
tion of  any  other  State;    nor  any  State  be 
formed  by  the  Junction  of  two  or  more  States, 
or  Parts  of  States,  without  the  Consent  of  the 
Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned  as  well 
as  of  the  Congress. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  dis- 
pose of  and  make  all  needful  Rules  and  Regu- 
lations respecting  the  Territory  or  other  Prop- 
erty  belonging   to   the    United    States;    and 
nothing  in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  con- 
strued  as   to   Prejudice   any   Claims   of   the 
United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SECTION  IV 

I.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to 
every  State  in  this  Union  a  Republican  Form 
of  Government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 
against  Invasion;  and  on  Application  of  the 

197 


Constitution  of  tfje 


Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive  (when  the 
Legislature  cannot  be  convened)  against  do- 
mestic Violence. 

ARTICLE  V 

I.  The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of 
both  Houses  shall  deem  it  necessary^  shall 
propose  Amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or, 
on  the  Application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two 
thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a  Con- 
vention for  proposing  Amendments,  which,  in 
either  Case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  Intents  and 
Purposes,  as  Part  of  this  Constitution,  when 
ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  three  fourths  of 
the  several  States,  or  by  Conventions  in  three 
fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  Mode 
of  Ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  Con- 
gress; Provided  that  no  Amendment  which 
may  be  made  prior  to  the  Year  One  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight  shall  in  any  Manner 
affect  the  first  and  fourth  Clauses  in  the  Ninth 
Section  of  the  first  Article ;  and  that  no  State, 
without  its  Consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its 
equal  Suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  VI 

I .  All  Debts  contracted  and  Engagements 
entered  into,  before  the  Adoption  of  this  Con- 
stitution, shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United 
'States  under  this  Constitution,  as  under  the 
Confederation. 

198 


ftnitefc  J>tate£— 1787 


2.  This  Constitution,  and  the  Laws  of  the 
United  States  which  shall  be  made  in  Pursu- 
ance thereof;  and  all  Treaties  made,  or  which 
shall  be  made,   under  the  Authority  of   the 
United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  Law  of 
the  Land;  and  the  Judges  in  every  State  shall 
be  bound  thereby,  any  Thing  in  the  Constitu- 
tion or  Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Contrary  not- 
withstanding. 

3 .  The  Senators  and  Representatives  before 
mentioned,   and  the  Members  of  the  several 
State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judi- 
cial Officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  Oath  or 
Affirmation,  to  support  this  Constitution;  but 
no  religious  Test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a 
Qualification  to   any  Office   or  public  Trust 
under  the  United  States. 


ARTICLE  VII 

I.  The  ratification  of  the  Conventions  of 
nine  States  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  Estab- 
lishment of  this  Constitution  between  the 
States  so  ratifying  the  Same. 


Done  in  Convention  by  the  Unanimous  Con- 
sent of  the  States  present  the  Seventeenth 
Day  of  September  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord* 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  Eighty  seven, 

199 


Constitution  of  tf)e 


and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States 
of  America  the  Twelfth  3(n  WiittOBH  whereof 
We  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  Names, 

G°:  WASHINGTON— 
Presidt.  and  Deputy  from  Virginia 

New  Hampshire 
JOHN  LANGDON  NICHOLAS  OILMAN 

Massachusetts 
NATHANIEL  GORHAM  RUFUS  KING 

Connecticut 
WM.  SAML.  JOHNSON  ROGER  SHERMAN 

New  York 
ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

New  Jersey 

WIL:  LIVINGSTON  WM.  PATERSON 

DAVID  BREARLEY  JONA:  DAYTON 

Pennsylvania 

B.  FRANKLIN  THOS.  FITZSIMONS 

THOMAS  MIFFLIN  TARED  INGERSOLL 

ROBT.  MORRIS  JAMES  WILSON 

GEO.  CLYMER  Gouv  MORRIS 

Delaware 

GEO:  READ  RICHARD  BASSETT 

GUNNING  BEDFORD  JUN         JACO:  BROOM 
JOHN  DICKINSON 

Maryland 

JAMES  MCHENRY  DANL.  CARROLL 

DAN  OF  ST  THOS  JENIFER 

Virginia 
JOHN  BLAIR  JAMES  MADISON  JR 

North  Carolina 

WM.  BLOUNT  Hu  WILLIAMSON 

RICHD.  DOBBS  SPAIGHT 

200 


— 1787 


South  Carolina 

J.  RUTLEDGE  CHARLES  PINCKNEY 

CHARLES  COTESWORTH  PIERCE  BUTLER 

PINCKNEY 

Georgia 
WILLIAM  FEW  ABR  BALDWIN 

Attest  WILLIAM  JACKSON  Secretary 


201 


amcntmicnrs  to  tfic  Constitution 


ARTICLES  IN  ADDITION  TO,  AND  AMENDMENT  OF, 
THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF 
AMERICA,  PROPOSED  BY  CONGRESS,  AND  RATI- 
FIED BY  THE  LEGISLATURES  OF  THE  SEVERAL 
STATES  PURSUANT  TO  THE  FIFTH  ARTICLE  OF 
THE  ORIGINAL  CONSTITUTION. 

ARTICLE  I* 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the 
free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  free- 
dom of  speech,  or  of  the  press;  or  the  right 
of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to 
petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of  griev- 
ances. 

ARTICLE  II 

A  well  regulated  Militia,  being  necessary  to 
the  security  of  a  free  State,  the  right  of  the 

*  The  first  ten  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  were  proposed  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
States  by  the  First  Congress,  on  the  25th  of  September,  1789. 
They  were  ratified  by  the  following  States,  and  the  notifica- 
tions of  ratification  by  the  governors  thereof  were  successively 
communicated  by  the  President  to  Congress:  New  Jersey, 
November  20,  1789;  Maryland,  December  ig,  1789;  North  Caro- 
lina, December  22, 1789;  South  Carolina,  January  19,  1790;  New 
Hampshire,  January  25,  1790;  Delaware,  January  28,  1790; 
Pennsylvania,  March  10,  1790;  New  York,  March  27,  1790; 
Rhode  Island,  June  15,  1790;  Vermont,  November  3,  1791,  and 
Virginia,  December  15,  1791.  There  is  no  evidence  on  the 
journals  of  Congress  that  the  legislatures  of  Connecticut,  Geor- 
gia, and  Massachusetts  ratified  them. 

203 


gtmenomentg  to  tfre  (Constitution 

people  to  keep  and  bear  Arms,  shall  not  be 
infringed. 

ARTICLE  III 

No  Soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace  be  quar- 
tered in  any  house,  without  the  consent  of  the 
Owner,  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner 
to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against 
unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not 
be  violated,  and  no  Warrants  shall  issue,  but 
upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  Oath  or 
affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the 
place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things 
to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  V 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a 
capital,  or  otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless 
on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand 
Jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or 
naval  forces,  or  in  the  Militia,  when  in  actual 
service  in  time  of  War  or  public  danger;  nor 
shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the  same 
offence  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or 
limb;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any  Criminal 
Case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be 
deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without 

204 


&menoment$  to  tfje  Constitution 

due  process  of  law;  nor  shall  private  property 
be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  compen- 
sation. 

ARTICLE  VI 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused 
shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public 
trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  dis- 
trict wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  com- 
mitted, which  district  shall  have  been  previously 
ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the 
nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation ;  to  be  con- 
fronted with  the  witnesses  against  him;  to 
have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  Wit- 
nesses in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the  Assistance 
of  Counsel  for  his  defence. 

ARTICLE  VII 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in 
controversy  shall  exceed  twenty  dollars,  the 
right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved,  and 
no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re- 
examined  in  any  Court  of  the  United  States, 
than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common 
law. 

ARTICLE  VIII 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  ex- 
cessive fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual 
punishments  inflicted. 


205 


xlmcnDmcurfi?  to  tl)c  Constitution 


ARTICLE  IX 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution,  of 
certain  rights,  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny 
or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

ARTICLE  X 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by 
it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States 
respectively,  or  to  the  people. 

ARTICLE  XI 

The  Judicial  power  of  the  United  States 
shall  not  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  suit 
in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted 
against  one  of  the  United  States  by  Citizens 
of  another  State,  or  by  Citizens  or  Subjects  of 
any  Foreign  State. 

ARTICLE  XII 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective 
states,  and  vote  by  ballot  for  President  and 
Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall 
not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with 
themselves;  they  shall  name  in  their  ballots 
the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  dis- 
tinct ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice- 
President,  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists 

206 


&mcn&mcnts  to  tl)e  Constitution 

of  all  persons  voted  for  as  President,  and  of 
all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and 
of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists 
they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit 
sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of 
the  Senate; — The  President  of  the  Senate 
shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates 
and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted; — The 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes 
for  President,  shall  be  the  President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of 
Electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person  have 
such  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having 
the  highest  numbers  not  exceeding  three  on 
the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the 
House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  imme- 
diately, by  ballot,  the  President.  But  in 
choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be 
taken  by  states,  the  representation  from  each 
state  having  one  vote;  a  quorum  for  this  pur- 
pose shall  consist  of  a  member  or-  members 
from  two-thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority 
of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 
And  if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not 
choose  a  President  whenever  the  right  of 
choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the 
fourth  day  of  March  next  following,  then  the 
Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional 
disability  of  the  President.  The  person  having 

207 


Slmcntmicntie?  to  tljc  Constitution 

the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-Presi- 
dent, shall  be  the  Vice-President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of 
Electors  appointed,  and  if  no  person  have  a 
majority,  then  from  the  two  highest  numbers 
on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice- 
President;  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall 
consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of 
Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But  no  person 
constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  Presi- 
dent shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE  XIII 

SECTION  I 

I.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servi- 
tude, except  as  a  punishment  for  crime  whereof 
the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall 
exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

SECTION  II 

I.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce 
this  article  by  appropriate  legislation. 

ARTICLE  XIV 

SECTION  I 

I.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the 
United  States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 

208 


&mcnomentjS  to  tfre  Constitution 

thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and 
of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State 
shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall 
abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States;  nor  shall  any  State 
deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  prop- 
erty, without  due  process  of  law;  nor  deny  to 
any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal 
protection  of  the  laws. 

SECTION  II 

I.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned 
among  the  several  States  according  to  their 
respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  num- 
ber of  persons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians 
not  taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any 
election  for  the  choice  of  electors  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States, 
Representatives  in  Congress,  the  Executive 
and  Judicial  officers  of  a  State,  or  the  members 
of  the  Legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of 
the  male  inhabitants  of  such  State,  being 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  except 
for  participation  in  rebellion,  or  other  crime, 
the  basis  of  Representation  therein  shall  be 
reduced  in  the  proportion  which  the  number 
of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole 
number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of 
age  in  such  State. 


209 


&men&ment£  to  tiic  Constitution 


SECTION  in 

I .  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Repre- 
sentative in  Congress,  or  elector  of  President 
and  Vice  President,  or  hold  any  office,  civil 
or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under 
any  State,  who,  having  previously  taken  an 
oath,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  offi- 
cer of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  member  of 
any  State  Legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or 
judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to  support  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall  have 
engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the 
same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies 
thereof.  But  Congress  may  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such  disability. 

SECTION  rv 

I .  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the 
United  States,  authorized  by  law,  including 
debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pensions  and 
bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrec- 
tion or  rebellion,  shall  not  be  questioned.  But 
neither  the  United  States  nor  any  State  shall 
assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation  incurred 
in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or 
emancipation  of  any  slave;  but  all  such  debts, 
obligations  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal  and 
void. 


210 


&menoment£  to  tfte  Constitution 


SECTION  V 


I.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  en- 
force, by  appropriate  legislation,  the  provi- 
sions of  this  article. 


ARTICLE  XV 

SECTION  I 

I.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States  to  vote  shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged 
by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on  ac- 
count of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude. 

SECTION  II 

I.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  en- 
force this  article  by  appropriate  legislation. 


211 


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